"Beep~ Garganacl, Rock-type, Salt Pokémon
Ability: Purifying Salt
Moves: Hammer Arm, Block, Tackle, Wide Guard, Harden, Rock Blast, Rock Slide, Mud Shot, Rock Tomb, Rock Polish, Headbutt, Salt Cure, Recover...
Egg Moves: Earthquake, Curse
Description: Just by rubbing its fingertips together to produce salt and sprinkling it on an injured Pokémon, even the most serious wounds can instantly heal."
...Uh, sprinkling salt on a wound—somehow, that feels deep.
After capturing Garganacl into a Poké Ball, Caleb finally took out his long-unused Pokédex to scan it.
He was very pleased.
It had already learned all the right moves. Once he stopped by Man's warehouse and picked up a few more TMs to fill in the gaps, it would be pretty much set.
It had been a full two and a half minutes since the Nacli and Naclstack had exploded with that golden light.
Now, every single one of them was sprawled weakly across the ground like they had lost all fighting ability.
Caleb looked around at the scattered "salt blocks" littering the ground and turned to ask Professor Elm, "Professor, those were the only ones with issues?"
Professor Elm rubbed his eyes, still seeing spots from the blinding light, and shook his head. "Not exactly, actually there's still..."
Before he could finish, Caleb felt a chill wash over him.
The sun was blazing overhead at noon, yet a sudden eerie wind began to howl through the area.
Wisps of black and purple fog began to converge from all directions...
A wave of drowsiness overwhelmed him.
Caleb let out a long yawn, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, until finally he couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground, snoring.
The same thing happened to Cynthia, Green, and the others.
They, too, felt a powerful wave of sleepiness.
In an instant, everything around them fell into dead silence, broken only by the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze.
"Kou-kyeh..."
The sound echoed suddenly through the air, ghostly and faint, giving it a disembodied, surreal feel.
Then—
Tendrils of black thread began to swirl upward and coalesce.
A pair of eyes appeared.
And a wide grin split open below them, revealing two sharp, pointed fangs.
"Kyahaha..."
Just as Gastly burst into triumphant laughter, a massive black hand suddenly appeared behind it and smacked it hard on the head.
Gastly's gas-like form was instantly split in two.
But it quickly reformed, looking pitifully toward the owner of that hand—
Dusknoir.
Behind Dusknoir, black mist rolled and twisted, slowly revealing the forms of more Pokémon.
More than ten Ghost-type Pokémon in total.
They came in all shapes: some like drifting shadows, others resembling pale gray coral, some like husks of shed cicadas...
Dusknoir raised its hand and gave an order.
Immediately, Gastly and the other Ghost-types' eyes glowed red, and a strange energy surged from their bodies, sweeping toward the slumbering Caleb and his friends.
On the ground, Caleb's previously peaceful sleeping face slowly furrowed into a frown.
...
Caleb woke up in a classroom.
The room was dim and gloomy, the flickering light overhead blinking on and off, while the ceiling fan above teetered dangerously, like it could fall at any moment.
Steadying himself, Caleb slowly stood up and walked to the window.
Looking out onto the playground—
It was utter chaos. Panicked people were running in all directions, screaming and fleeing. Behind them chased ragged, oddly walking corpses.
These zombies staggered, but moved fast, pursuing like starving wolves.
Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream rang out.
Caleb squinted—one unfortunate classmate had been caught and bitten by one of the corpses. In an instant, the fear on their face vanished into blankness, and they turned into one of the flesh-hungry undead, attacking those nearby without hesitation.
"Huh. Zombie apocalypse."
The dream felt oddly realistic.
Caleb had actually realized early on that this was a dream.
Not because of any psychic powers or anything.
But because when he woke up, he instinctively tried to call out to his system—and for the first time, there was no response.
And everyone knew the system was basically bound to its host.
So unless he had been transmigrated again and lost it—which was unlikely—the only remaining explanation was that he was dreaming.
And the more he thought about it, the more familiar this dream felt. On closer reflection, it resembled the plot of that movie currently starring Karuna that was airing everywhere.
Same zombie apocalypse theme.
Even the scene outside looked like it had been copy-pasted from the film.
Caleb shook his head in mild exasperation.
Ugh. Zombie tropes were already overdone even back before I transmigrated.
Back then, it was all about rebirth into the apocalypse and stockpiling supplies.
And yet, those stale old settings had somehow become a hit in the Pokémon world—a whole fresh genre that everyone was raving about.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a chill swept through the classroom again.
A cold, bone-deep wind blew through the sealed room.
The setting was realistic, but the logic? Not so much.
Thunk!
Without warning, a ghostly pale hand burst up through the marble floor.
And like triggering a switch, more and more pale ghost hands and rotting heads began to rise from the tiles.
Caleb: ...
Marble? Seriously?
Whatever. They're trying hard, I might as well play along and scream a bit.
"Ahhh~"
"So scary! I'm so frightened~"
Caleb recited flatly, with no emotion at all.
At that moment, the heads of several Ghost-type Pokémon poked out.
Some burst into gleeful laughter, others waved their arms excitedly—clearly overjoyed that they'd managed to scare him.
Mismagius, Dusclops, Drifblim, Galarian Corsola, Shedinja, Cofagrigus...
But none were more smug than Gastly, hiding behind Dusclops and grinning ear to ear.
Everyone had worked so hard to build this nightmare—surely that human was scared out of his wits by now, right? Hehehe...
Ghost-type Pokémon fed on fear in dreams. The more afraid someone was, the more delicious the dream tasted.
But then—
Gastly froze.
There was no flavor!
Not even a little bit!
How?! The setting was terrifying—even for a Ghost-type like itself, it was creepy!
And with so many ghosts gathered together, there should've been some emotional reaction, right?
"So many Ghost-type Pokémon..."
Caleb's eyes sparkled like a kid discovering a treasure trove.
His heart was filled with pure excitement—no room for any other thoughts.
As for why he wasn't scared?
Partly because the dream made zero logical sense.
And partly because... Caleb firmly believed:
There's no such thing as a bad Ghost-type Pokémon.