"Gastly..."
Seeing this Gastly and recalling the incredibly vivid dream he had just experienced, Jinghe slowly began to piece things together.
His nightmarish sleep was probably caused by this little guy, wasn't it?
However, looking at Gastly's current state, it seemed like... he had actually frightened it instead?
Jinghe didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Regarding Gastly, or Ghost-type Pokemon in general, he had indeed been scared when he first encountered them in that dream. But after experiencing that initial shock and witnessing the existence of Ghost-type Pokemon firsthand, it wasn't quite as difficult to accept anymore.
Looking at its terror-filled eyes, it was hard to imagine this was the same Ghost-type Pokemon that typically enjoyed frightening and terrorizing others for entertainment.
Human and Pokemon stared at each other for a full minute. Throughout the entire process, it seemed as though Jinghe was the terrifying Ghost-type Pokemon while Gastly was the "victim."
"Gulp..."
The sound of Gastly swallowing broke the eerie silence in the room.
"So the dream earlier was your doing?" Jinghe suddenly spoke up.
Gastly almost instinctively nodded its head, but quickly caught itself and began shaking its head frantically like a rattle drum.
Seeing this behavior, Jinghe already knew the answer.
Perhaps realizing it couldn't fool Jinghe, Gastly forced what it considered to be a very friendly smile.
"Kou jie—"
Gastly was a gaseous Pokemon, meaning doors and windows couldn't contain it. However, Gastly typically inhabited graveyards or abandoned, dilapidated houses where no one lived. While his residence was certainly old, it shouldn't have been enough to attract a Gastly, should it?
Still, as a Pokemon Psychology instructor, Gastly's reactions and expressions made one thing crystal clear to him: Gastly was afraid of him. Or rather, it was afraid of the Giratina it had seen in the earlier dream.
What it was actually afraid of didn't matter. What mattered was that it was afraid.
Everyone knows that the best way to capture a Pokemon is to weaken it in battle before forcing a capture. Additionally, establishing friendly relationships or catching them when they're afflicted with status conditions like paralysis or cowering also presented excellent opportunities.
At this moment, Gastly was in a state of near-traumatic stress brought on by fear and nervousness.
Jinghe slowly sat up from the sofa. Under Gastly's watchful gaze, he methodically folded the blanket neatly and placed it to one side, then smoothed out a few wrinkles in his clothing before taking a gentle breath.
His slow, deliberate movements and calm demeanor gradually caused Gastly to relax as well.
Maybe this human wasn't so terrifying after all?
Suddenly, Jinghe raised his hand sharply.
"Look! Giratina!"
"Kou jie!"
Gastly, which had just managed to calm its nerves, jolted in shock and cried out, instinctively turning to look behind itself.
At that same moment, Jinghe produced a red and white spherical object from some corner and hurled it toward Gastly.
Buzz!
A flash of red light enveloped Gastly, and it was drawn into the Pokeball.
For a moment, the air in the entire room seemed to freeze. Jinghe stared unblinkingly at the Pokeball that had fallen to the floor, silently counting along with its shaking until he reached "three."
Click!
The Pokeball shook three times with modest movements and made a sound like a lock clicking before falling still.
"Phew—"
Jinghe let out a long breath.
The joy on his face lasted less than three seconds before being replaced by a sense of anticlimax.
"So this is what capturing a Pokemon feels like?"
It wasn't quite as thrilling as he had imagined.
He walked over and picked up the Pokeball.
This had been his carefully considered choice during that minute of staring at Gastly.
There were three reasons for his decision.
First, while this Gastly seemed to fear him, it would probably soon realize he was just an ordinary human with nothing particularly frightening about him. Whether Gastly would then choose to continue its hypnotic attacks or simply leave was uncertain.
Second, if Gastly attacked again, having already ruled out the possibility of possessing superhuman constitution like a certain protagonist from Pallet Town, an ordinary person's chances against a Pokemon were virtually zero, especially against a Ghost-type.
Finally... the opportunity was simply too good to pass up.
If Ghost-type Pokemon weren't so unsettling in reality, he probably wouldn't have hesitated for that full minute. But thinking it over, if Gastly could evolve into Gengar, that would be quite... ahem, distinctive.
"Gastly?" Jinghe gently pressed the button in the center of the Pokeball, which opened in response.
"Kou jie?"
A black mist slowly condensed within the red light, revealing a thoroughly bewildered Gastly.
It opened its large white eyes, displaying its sharp teeth and crimson tongue.
Gastly blinked twice, taking a moment to process the situation before looking at Jinghe with an expression that seemed to say—I trusted you like a brother, but you wanted to...
"Kou!! Jie—"
A piercing, teeth-grinding cry suddenly erupted, whether from anger or menace was impossible to tell.
Buzz!
The prepared Jinghe didn't hesitate to use the Pokeball again. Red light flashed, and Gastly was drawn back inside, its cries cutting off abruptly.
After waiting a while, Jinghe released it again.
"Kou!—"
Recall.
Release.
"Kou—"
Recall.
Release.
"..."
After several repetitions of this process:
Gastly: (・_・)
"Kou jie~~"
Its voice was obviously much more peaceful now, even showing signs of trying to please him.
Let's talk, let's just have a conversation—surely there's nothing that can't be discussed civilly?
Seeing it finally calm down, Jinghe also breathed a sigh of relief.
'So much for the idea that Pokemon become instantly devoted after being captured.'
He was grateful he had struck first.
Now that they could communicate, things would be much easier.
"Gurgle—"
"Kou jie?" Gastly looked puzzled.
What was that sound?
"Ahem." Jinghe placed his fist near his mouth and cleared his throat softly.
Looking away with an unchanged expression, he asked: "Want something to eat?"
"Kou jie?"
Ten minutes later:
"Kou jie!"
At the small dining table sat two bowls of steaming... instant ramen.
But Gastly wore an expression of complete amazement, as if it had never seen such a thing before.
It stared at the instant ramen in front of it, inhaling the enticing aroma and swallowing hard.
"I've used up most of the ingredients I had stored at home. Only two bowls of instant ramen left..." Jinghe explained.
The battle of wits with Gastly had been somewhat draining, especially that dream sequence.
Gastly nodded blankly, though it was unclear whether it had actually listened.
It simply gazed at the bowl of ramen, its misty body undulating as it seemed unsure how to proceed.
"Well then, let's dig in."
Without saying more, Jinghe picked up his chopsticks, wound up a large bite of noodles, and stuffed them in his mouth.
Slurp—
The considerable sound finally drew Gastly's attention again.
Watching Jinghe's actions, it showed a look of understanding.
A wisp of black mist extended from its body, forming the shape of a hand as it mimicked Jinghe by picking up chopsticks and reaching toward the bowl.
However, this seemed to be its first time using such utensils, or perhaps its first time eating noodles. After several attempts, it either couldn't catch any noodles or they would slip off halfway up, leaving the eager-to-eat-but-unable-to Gastly frustrated and embarrassed.
Watching its somewhat comical movements, Jinghe smiled warmly and, after swallowing the noodles in his mouth, said: "You could try using the fork."
Only then did Gastly notice there was actually a fork placed beside its bowl of ramen, while Jinghe's side had none.
Something warm stirred in its heart.
It immediately abandoned the chopsticks for the fork.
Having already made several attempts, using the fork allowed it to successfully eat the ramen on the first try.
"Kou jie!!"
Gastly's eyes instantly lit up upon tasting instant ramen for the first time.
Without even swallowing what was in its mouth, it immediately reached for more from the bowl.
Seeing it devouring the food so eagerly, Jinghe smiled again.
He introduced himself for the first time: "Nice to meet you, Gastly. I'm Jinghe."
The dining table was the best place to establish friendly relationships.
"Kou jie, kou jie!"
Gastly called out energetically twice.
Compared to earlier, while Gastly might not be particularly close to Jinghe now, it was at least no longer hostile.
"By the way," Jinghe set down his chopsticks and asked, "Gastly, why did you come here?"
This had been bothering him all evening.
"Slurp—"
Gastly gulped down the last mouthful of noodles but didn't answer Jinghe's question. It simply licked its lips while looking longingly at the ramen container that now contained only broth.
"I'm full."
A bowl of ramen, less than half-eaten, was pushed toward it.
"Kou jie?"
Gastly stared at him blankly.
Wasn't he eating because he was hungry?
But this was indeed the first time it had tasted something so delicious. And it was also the first time it felt something warm flowing through what might be called its heart.
Jinghe smiled warmly. "As long as you don't mind."
"Kou jie kou jie!"
Gastly floated over to Jinghe, and before he could react—
Slurp—
Its crimson tongue made intimate contact with his cheek.
Jinghe's expression froze.
It took him a while to wipe the saliva from his face.
"Did you brush your teeth?"