Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 279: Gengar’s Three-Tier Reward (Part 2)

Gengar stared at Rio with a deadpan expression. "Rio, do you take Old Ghost for a fool? If you don’t want to say it, just say so. ’Awakening past-life memories’? ’Being possessed by someone else’? Can you get any more ridiculous? At least make your lies believable!"

An exasperated voice echoed in Rio’s mind.

Rio shrugged helplessly. As expected—honesty is often not trusted. He’d been completely transparent, and it still wasn’t believed. What could he do?

Gengar’s voice came again: "I think getting killed just knocked some sense into you. You realized that being weak and timid wouldn’t work, so you reflected and changed. That’s why you’re the way you are now."

"Mmhm, mmhm—congratulations, you got it right." Rio nodded enthusiastically, watching Gengar’s smug expression.

The power of self-brainwashing is strong. If that’s how you want to see it, I’m not complaining—it works better for me anyway.

"Alright—give Old Ghost a new Poké Ball. You’ve been nagging me to leave that ancient ball for ages. I’ll oblige you now." Satisfied that it had figured Rio out, Gengar cackled and told Rio to give it a new home.

CRACK!

Rio, who had been waiting for this moment, stomped the ancient Poké Ball into pieces. He’d been itching to catch Gengar the moment he saw its friendship at 100, but he’d held back to avoid looking too eager. Now, with a 130-point increase from -30 to 100, plus the 30-point boost from a new Poké Ball, the total gain would exceed 160—making Gengar the first Pokémon to unlock its third-tier reward.

With a flash of light, Gengar was drawn into the new Poké Ball. After three wobbles, the system notification rang in Rio’s mind:

[Successfully captured Pokémon Gengar.]

[Gengar’s starting friendship was -30. Current friendship is 130. Increase of 160 points qualifies for First-Tier, Second-Tier, and Third-Tier Reward Unlock.]

[All three rewards merged and distributed.]

[Reward Unlocked: Gengar’s talent upgraded from Champion to Legendary. Level increased from 84 to 90. Received two Move Disks.]

"Talent upgraded to Legendary? Level jumped from 84 to 90? And two Move Disks? My god—this is a quantum leap!" Rio’s face lit up with joy.

This reward effectively made Gengar a regional guardian-level Pokémon—and arguably the strongest in his lineup. Even Mewtwo might not surpass it. Of course, that was assuming at least one of the two Move Disks rolled a divine move. If neither did, Gengar would still be the strongest below guardian-tier.

A prompt appeared before him:

[Would you like to use the Move Disk?]

"Yes." Rio didn’t hesitate.

The familiar disk appeared before his eyes, visible only to him. It displayed six moves: Roar of Time, Toxic Chain, Dark Void, Shadow Force, Dark Pulse (Enhanced Exclusive), and Spectral Thief.

These moves... Rio’s eyebrows lifted. The selection was unexpected.

First, Roar of Time—Dialga’s signature move. How did that end up here? Had Gengar’s time-traveling experience given it insight into temporal power?

Then Toxic Chain—he had no idea which Pokémon that belonged to.

Dark Void was Darkrai’s move. Shadow Force was Giratina’s. Spectral Thief was Marshadow’s.

But what was "Dark Pulse (Enhanced Exclusive)"? An enhanced version of Dark Pulse that rivaled divine moves?

The disk began to spin. Rio watched, unsure which move to hope for. Soon, the spinning stopped—the pointer landed on Roar of Time.

Rio grinned. Roar of Time? That means Gengar will have control over time itself—this is going to be huge.

But it wasn’t over. Another prompt appeared:

[Would you like to use the second Move Disk?]

"Yes." Rio agreed. A new disk appeared—identical to the first, except Roar of Time had been replaced by Glastrier’s signature move, Glacial Lance.

Two seconds later, the disk spun and stopped—this time, on Dark Pulse (Enhanced Exclusive).

Rio was eager to see Gengar’s transformation. With a flash of light, he released Gengar.

The moment it appeared, its presence shifted dramatically. What had been the aura of a strong Pokémon was now an almost divine pressure radiating uncontrollably. Charizard and the others tensed up—even Mewtwo’s expression changed.

Rio checked Gengar’s updated stats:

[Pokémon: Gengar (Shiny)]

[Level: 90 (Time until next level: 200,000 days.)]

[Talent: Legendary]

[Friendship: 130]

[Ability 1: Cursed Body]

[Ability 2: Pressure]

[Gender: Male]

[Moves: Hypnosis (128%), Confuse Ray (128%), Mean Look (128%), Reflect Type (128%), Payback (128%), Grudge (128%), Skill Swap (128%), Curse (128%), Night Shade (128%), Dark Pulse (Enhanced Exclusive) (128%), Shadow Ball (128%), Destiny Bond (--), Roar of Time (10%), and more...]

[Description: This is a Pokémon that has traveled through time...]

"Rio—is this your power? I feel incredibly strong—terrifyingly strong right now. That Lugia that beat us up before? I feel like I could pin it to the ground now," Gengar’s voice echoed in Rio’s mind.

It was clearly just as shocked. Rio urged: "Show me your power—"

But before he could finish, his eyes widened—the flow of time around him was already being affected. His speech slowed to a crawl. Gengar’s body dissolved into a thick black mist that spread through Ilex Forest, accompanied by its signature cackle. The wild Pokémon fled in terror. Moments later, nearly a hundred wild Pokémon were gathered before Rio—as if teleported there.

Rio stared in stunned disbelief.