Chương 46: Tomorrow’s Ghost

Gastly's recovery review took place under moonlight. Pewter Center maintained a rooftop ward for Ghost Pokémon, shielded from city illumination by black glass walls. Moon Stone dust ran beneath the floor in sealed channels. Poison substrate drifted through adjustable vents. Gastly floated in the center of a diagnostic ring. He hated every second.

"Stop making the monitor lie," Rine said. The spectral density graph displayed a smile. Doctor Hana Mori joined by projection from Lavender Town. Her white hair had a violet tint beneath the screen, and a Mismagius watched over one shoulder.

"Creative core control," Mori said. Gastly bowed.

"Also medically annoying." He stopped. The assessment measured cohesion after movement, technique, and forced Levitate disruption. Gastly performed Lick, Mean Look, Hypnosis, Night Shade, and the newly learned Payback at minimum strength. Payback remained unstable. Dark energy gathered only after he experienced an attack. Without pain or anger, he could not form it.

"Do not solve that by hurting him repeatedly," Mori said.

"I wasn't planning to." Gastly projected Tessa's training pebble striking him fifty times.

"He was." Mori prescribed reactive drills using harmless pressure, surprise, and competitive frustration. A move born through retaliation could be understood without cultivating suffering as its only source. The final scan lasted ten minutes. Identify opened alongside it.

Gastly — Male Level: 12 Type: Ghost / Poison Ability: Levitate Innate Potential: Purple — Epic Current Potential: Yellow — Rare Spectral cohesion: 82% Fragmentation damage: healing; no permanent cap detected His current potential had risen one rank. Green to Yellow. The progress looked small beside innate Purple. Rine knew what it cost: controlled diet, moonlight, rest, and weeks without using the mutation technique that once stopped Rattata hearts.

"Cursed Smog?" he asked. Mori's expression hardened.

"No." Gastly dimmed.

"Not never," she continued.

"Your core routes the technique through damaged regions. At ninety-five percent cohesion, we test a cloud no larger than your body. Until then, ordinary Poison techniques only."

"He doesn't know any."

"He knows the structure of Smog from exposure, but Gastly do not typically learn it naturally. A tutor could teach Clear Smog later if his compatibility permits. For now, stop collecting moves and improve the ones he has." Rine saved the instruction. The board lifted Gastly's medical restriction. With both Pokémon cleared, the prohibition on additional captures ended automatically. Rine's Pokédex chimed. Party registration capacity restored. Authorized active partners: 2 / 6 The empty number felt enormous.

The Center clerk offered a list of nearby adoption partners before Rine asked.

"Restored capacity automatically triggers the service," she explained.

"You are not required to select anyone." The screen displayed Pokémon evaluated for Trainer placement. A Bellsprout surrendered after its elderly caretaker entered assisted living. A Machop whose construction placement ended when the company closed. Two Zubat born in a city attic. A female Nidoran removed from an illegal breeding operation. A Slowpoke listed with the note: Excellent temperament. May require several weeks to acknowledge relocation. Rine read every profile.

Identify could not operate through the listings, so potential remained hidden. The absence was uncomfortable. He could choose based only on species, history, compatibility, and the limited behavior reports. The way most people chose.

"Would you like to meet any?" the clerk asked. Rine considered Bellsprout. Grass typing would dismantle Pewter's conventional first-badge team. Vine Whip offered reach. Growth techniques could provide control. Poison added utility beside Morrow. The thought sounded like shopping.

"Not today." The clerk closed the list without judgment. Outside, an adoption courtyard allowed prospective partners and Pokémon to interact without commitment. Rine paused at the viewing rail. Machop stacked foam blocks while a middle-aged Trainer asked about lifting habits. One Zubat used echolocation to follow a child through hanging hoops. Slowpoke stared into a shallow pond with such complete focus that time seemed embarrassed to disturb him.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Veyra watched from Rine's left. Morrow hovered on his right.

"Opinions?" Veyra sniffed toward Nidoran, then looked away. Morrow created six empty circles and filled all of them with himself.

"Rejected." A staff member brought Bellsprout into the courtyard. The Grass-type noticed Morrow. Morrow noticed the species. Both remembered the roadside humiliation with entirely different levels of resentment. Bellsprout slapped his gas with one leaf. Morrow challenged it immediately. Rine retrieved him before the adoption center banned the entire team. The encounter settled the decision. They were not ready to invite another life into the pack simply because a type chart offered convenience.

That did not mean they would remain three forever. It meant the third partner deserved to arrive as more than an answer to Brock. Rine asked the clerk how placement worked. Meetings occurred over several days. Pokémon could reject candidates. Trainers submitted care plans and financial proof. High-risk species required habitat inspection. No one left the courtyard inside a ball after a single conversation unless emergency fostering applied. The process lacked the drama of choosing a starter from a table.

It possessed more respect. Rine saved the information for later. His old-life knowledge supplied possibilities immediately. Grass or Water would answer Pewter's Rock/Ground matchups. A Fighting type could provide physical coverage. Steel would add defense. A Ground type could train beside Veyra and help her learn resonance safely. The calculation reduced an unknown life to a slot. Rine closed it.

"Not yet." Gastly looked offended on behalf of hypothetical recruits.

"We are still learning to function as three." Veyra, watching from outside the diagnostic ring, barked agreement. Gastly produced six copies of himself.

"Illusions do not increase party capacity." The copies began campaigning. Doctor Mori watched with professional fascination.

"Has he chosen a registered name?"

"He suggested Supreme Lord of Night."

"A traditional phase." Gastly nodded solemnly.

"Most outgrow it." He stopped nodding. The registration form still listed Gastly. Rine had not pushed after learning Veyra already possessed a self-call. Ghost identity could be stranger. Some adopted names from old graves, places, emotions, or people whose shadows they inhabited.

"Do you want one?" Rine asked again. Gastly's vapor stilled. No joke appeared.

"Not one I choose for you. Something that means you." The Ghost looked toward the moon. He formed an image. Rine saw the orphanage tunnel first. Veyra walked ahead, gold beneath her ribs. Gastly followed in Rine's shadow. The image changed to Saffron's north gate opening, then the hospital window, Route Seven at sunrise, Mt. Moon's western exit, and finally the Pewter Gym. Not places. Next moments. Another door after every room. Above the images appeared a word. MORROW Rine knew the older English meaning.

The following day. Tomorrow.

"Morrow?" Gastly grinned. The name suited him better than it should have: a Ghost naming himself for what came next.

"Morrow," Veyra's registered translator repeated through the Pokédex. Her bark could not shape the word, but her rising call included Gastly's scent-position. Pack acknowledgment. Morrow circled her in delight. Doctor Mori updated the record. Morrow Frostfang — registered partner Pokémon Again, the surname was an administrative association rather than ownership. Morrow admired it anyway. Registration opened additional records hidden behind the generic species label.

Inherited Value Profile Vitality: 17 / 31 Physical Attack: 8 / 31 Physical Defense: 14 / 31 Special Attack: 30 / 31 Special Defense: 20 / 31 Speed: 28 / 31 Effort Development Vitality: 8 Physical Attack: 2 Physical Defense: 6 Special Attack: 29 Special Defense: 12 Speed: 25 Morrow's body favored exactly what Rine expected of Gastly: elemental projection and speed, with poor physical durability. Team Rocket had trained those strengths recklessly while neglecting the fragile core supporting them.

"No defense grinding through impacts," Rine said. Morrow displayed Cairn's pebble.

"Controlled disruption is not the same as getting hit until a number rises." The Ghost changed the pebble into a tiny pillow.

"Closer." At Level Twenty-Five, Morrow could evolve into Haunter through ordinary growth. No stone. No trade. His gaseous core would reorganize into hands, a larger central form, and stronger capacity for Ghost techniques. The evolution remained distant. Rine did not build a countdown. Morrow was not an unfinished Haunter. Veyra was not an unfinished Direbolt. The forms they occupied now deserved time to exist. The first person Rine told was Mira. She answered from school detention.

"What did you do?"

"Needle entered the cafeteria." Beedrill could fold his wings. He could not become small.

"Why?"

"Someone said Bug Pokémon were weak."

"Did he attack?"

"He stood behind them." Rine approved more than he should. Morrow filled the screen with his chosen name. Mira pronounced it twice.

"Like tomorrow without the 'to'?" The Ghost created a sun rising.

"That is much better than Supreme Lord." Morrow turned away from her. After the call, Rine brought both partners to the Gym registration desk. The clerk changed Houndour and Gastly on his active roster to Veyra and Morrow. A second screen displayed their medical clearances. The system requested pronunciation samples from each partner. Veyra supplied her self-call, a low two-note sound beyond the shape of a human name. The registry stored both.

Morrow spoke through the desk monitor by shaping static into a rough syllable, then spent five minutes improving the dramatic echo. Rine listened to the playback. The roster no longer looked like an inventory. It looked like introductions. Before they left, the clerk printed emergency cards bearing each partner's chosen name, typing, dietary restrictions, medical history, and consent signals. Veyra's card warned of triple-core instability and prohibited Electric suppression collars.

Morrow's warned that apparent dispersal did not always indicate unconsciousness and directed responders to test his central core before attempting containment. Team Rocket records had reduced both of them to assets and projected yield. The League's forms were still forms. They could not create respect by themselves. But a medic reading Veyra responds to two barks for pain might stop when she needed them to.

A rescuer seeing Morrow may hide when frightened; do not disperse outer gas might avoid turning panic into permanent harm. Paperwork could become a kind of armor. Rine bought waterproof sleeves for both cards and placed copies in his travel pack, jacket, and Pokédex case. Morrow hid one copy inside his gas.

"That defeats the purpose if a medic cannot find it." The card floated out with theatrical reluctance. Across the waiting room, a nurse called, "Morrow Frostfang?" The Ghost turned before Rine did. His vapor brightened. The nurse only needed a signature confirming the pronunciation sample, but Morrow followed her to the desk as if summoned to a throne. Rine watched him answer to something he had chosen for himself. Names could be armor too.

"You can apply for the preliminary challenge evaluation," she said. Rine's pulse accelerated.

"Today?"

"Application today. Evaluation in forty-eight hours." He had waited through death, crime, hearings, rehabilitation, and three cities. Forty-eight hours seemed unreasonable. He filed the application. Brock approved it before dinner. The evaluation rules arrived with no opponent information: Two registered Pokémon. Switching permitted. Victory not required. Assessment priorities: safety, communication, tactical adaptation, surrender response. The last priority belonged specifically to Rine. He stared at it.

Morrow projected a white flag. Veyra bit the flag in half.

"Excellent start." They spent the evening reviewing signals. One bark meant ready. Two meant pain. A rising growl meant Electric instability. Veyra's self-call could guide Morrow through obscured fields. Morrow used shapes: circle for safe, line for threat direction, broken square for recall. Rine added verbal commands last. He had built the team around his voice because Team Rocket trained Trainers to command. The qualifier would test whether they could function when his voice failed.

Before sleep, Rine updated the notebook. Things the games got wrong: six party slots are not an invitation. Morrow added: SEVEN WITH GHOST COPIES Rine left that too. The room felt different with both names written on the roster. Not stronger. More complete. Tomorrow, they would train. The morrow after, they would be tested. Morrow considered the wordplay excellent. Veyra considered it grounds for biting him.