Taking a different path from the weedle, Jared checked the GPS on his rocket phone and made his way further into the forests of route one.

His bag was bigger and heavier than before, and he was prepared to stay the night in the wilderness if need be.

...Today I'm going to find another pokemon with good potential or at least something to sell. The trees will block the sunlight, so Gastly should be able to show some combat strength during the day.

Crunching through the forest, Jared kept his eyes peeled, he was looking for dense undergrowth. However, the trees were somewhat sparse, and everywhere he looked he saw grass as tall as ripe wheat.

Jared finally found a good spot, and he was now in a wooded area with plenty of shade.

The sun was still bright, but he felt cold, "Gastly, get out and look around, we are hunting for pokemon to sell."

"But the sun! I don't want to human!"

A human smiled slyly, "I'll spend a whole day giving you negative energy when you find something good, interested now?"

With reluctance, Gastly pulled himself from Jared's body.

Jared explained the types which wouldn't sell well, and which ones he should immediately inform him about, (according to James.)

Soon Gastly sluggishly thinned his body and spread tendrils of smoke out like an octopus in search of prey. Now, everything within two hundred feet of his core could be seen, he was almost like an omniscient god!

"What do you see Gastly?"

"Stinky Racoons, useless sleepy owls, pathetic small birds, and an ugly rat."

"A Raticate?"

"No human."

"Say, Gastly, for the sake of better communication, it would help a lot if you used the pokemon's names rather than insults."

"Hmph, give me negative energy while I search, and maybe I will," Gastly only got a chuckle, " Ah, Gastly, I know you well enough by now. Guide me to each pokemon, I want to check them"

"What for? They all look useless, you don't need them!"

"Gastly, I have a sneaking suspicion you've been actively trying to prevent me from gaining another pokemon, but I want to assure you of something." Jared Looked up towards the ball of gas, then spoke sincerely, "No matter how many pokemon join our team, you will always be special to me."

Feeling himself losing this battle, Gastly takes a step back, "You will not reduce the negative energy you give to me, and... then... then..."

With a playful tone, Jared replies, "I never thought you were this insecure Gastly, did you really think I was going to abandon you the moment I capture a new pokemon?"

"S-Shut up Jared."

"See, you said my name, you only say my name when you are stressed."

"You are annoying, human, there is a small owl in this tree, you want to check don't you?"

"It's called a hoothoot, Gastly, and I can't get up there, drag it out with your tendrils and I'll take a look."

Inside the large oak, a small owl slept while standing on one foot.

Suddenly, a thick tendril of shadow began flooding into its home, but it went unnoticed. Soon the small owl was wrapped in shadow.

A minute later Jared hears a frantic screech from above him. Looking up he finds a small brown bird with large red eyes flailing about, it was trying his best to shake off the threat, but to no avail.

Seeing the hoothoot, Jared muttered "Potential," to himself.

He then told Gastly to release the owl after finding its potential was only a plain gray.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

The owl flew off, and Jared shook his head, " Alright, Gastly, on to the next, while you're looking, try to ensure I don't step on a weedle, I only have half an antidote left," Jared joked.

"Hmph"

Repeating this process for six hours, the sun was beginning to set.

"Stupid human, how long must I do this? They all look the same, will nothing satisfy you?!"

Jared sighed, he was feeling a bit annoyed as well. He had wasted a full hour meandering around a flock of pidgeys because he had no other route past them.

...I bought another pokeball, but I can't waste it... I want to find something as good as the emerald glowing weedle before I use it, but the best thing I've found was a rattata with a deep bronze glow.

"Alright Gastly, we can give up on finding an addition to the team, let's go deeper in and try to find something rare to sell instead. According to James, these pidgeys and rattatas are never bought.

(Generally, people who can afford a pokeball would also have enough money to buy a pokemon from a breeder. They wouldn't spend the time and effort to tame a wild pokemon, especially when bred pidgeys and rattatas are already cheap, and mostly tame. The only exceptions are pokemon that are expensive to breed, or won't lay eggs unless certain conditions are met, and these special conditions can't always be replicated in a closed environment.)

Walking through the underbrush, a Lovecraftian nightmare moves in synch with a human.

With the waning sun, Gastly could now spread his tendrils over three hundred and fifty feet in all directions, but it was now almost too dark to see, "Gastly, pick me up and carry me, I can barely see where I'm going, and I'm told a flashlight would only attract trouble."

"Human... I found something different, but It's dangerous."

"What is it?"

"A herd of green things standing around in the open"

"Green things? anything else?"

"I see a big one, the big one has flowers on its back."

"A flower...?"

Jared's eyes widen, "A VENOSAUR? show me!"

Gastly carried Jared through the fading twilight, but Gastly restricted himself to stay well below the treeline. Jared had warned him that pidgeot's fly high above, and will dive bomb moving prey.

While It was dark, and that issue was solved, the darkness awoke a new threat, and now the silent noctowls fly high above.

Jared had not seen a pidgeot or a noctowl, but James had assured him, so he was taking the warnings seriously. Maybe Gastly could win, maybe he couldn't, but if he's attacked from the sky, and dies, what good will it do him if Gastly wins after the fact?

Floating just above some tall grass, taller than even two men, Jared finds something glowing in the distance.

The white glow looked like a smoldering torch, and around this large torch were many little white embers.

With a bit of darkness as cover, Jared urged the Gastly closer, and now he got a clearer picture.

In the distance, there was a massive Venosaur at least ten feet tall! The so-called flower was more of a tree, and it stuck out the back of a four-legged monster!

The glow was produced from within the large flower's bulb, and it was growing fainter by the second.

Checking the Venosaurs potential, the creature lit up with a deep gold color, but the glow didn't light up the surroundings, not even by an inch.

...Venosaur huh... it's way bigger than what I read, is it some sort of mutant, or just really old?

Jared scratched his chin, ...It looks like it weighs at least ten tons! Even if Gastly could paralyze it... or I supplied him with enough energy to spam spites... I would be a fool to think I could capture or tame it. Gastly is hiding it, but I can tell he wants nothing to do with that creature, and I'm no exception.

...Even if I could somehow claim victory, I really doubt that mother would leave behind her children, or submit a piece of her soul to a pokeball. But... the little Bulbasaur's surrounding her? If it's them, I think I might have a shot...

Turning his eyes to the fading embers in each bulbasaurs bulb, Jared scanned their potential before their lights went out.

Out of the thirty little bulbasaurs, he finds two that sparked his interest. One glowed copper with a bit of bronze, while the other was bronze with traces of emerald.

The bronze and emerald glowing bulbasaur was larger than his siblings by a good bit, but he was still tiny, no bigger than a dog.

In his mind, Gastly asked, "What are you going to do human? If you want to fight the big plant, go ahead, I will wait here and watch!"

Jared whispers, " Oh, the great Gastly is scared now?"

"Shut up human, when I grow strong I won't fear the fat plant!"

"Sure... Sure..."

Later on, a grumbling Gastly floats toward a Venosaur and her children. He was waiting for the darkness to be complete.

Once blackness took the earth completely, Gastly crept in.

Cautiously, he spread himself around the venosaur to probe it. He felt intense danger and was worried the big leafy beast could detect him somehow.

Reforming halfway, Gastly waits for a reaction. He detects no movements from the venosaur besides some gentle breathing but the breaths were more like bellows.

Gastly soon finds himself before the largest Bulbasaur, ...This is the one the human fussed about?

He then looked back at the sleeping venosaur, his eery eyes were now the only light source in the darkness.

Feeling a jolt of fear, Gastly gives up on casting a hypnosis on the Bulbasaur. He feared his elemental fluctuations would alert the parent.

As if pondering a puzzle, Gastly comes to a decision after a few minutes.

With caution, several tentacles sprouted from his core. He then began wrapping them around the bulbasaurs neck like a noose.

He felt the bulbasaur was stirring awake, so he suddenly tightened the noose, and squelched its neck. He was hoping this would prevent it from calling for help.

Lifting the Bulbasaur off the ground, he began floating away cautiously.

Unbeknownst to Gastly, the struggling bulbasaur began emitting a scent from the tip of its large bulb!

Gastly was only a hundred yards away when suddenly an earsplitting roar erupted. The roar was filled with primordial rage and shook the very earth! That which should not be provoked had awoken!