Reiji stared at the mega–evolved Gengar and couldn't help blurting out, "Holy crap, Mega Evolution! My theory was right!"
He hadn't expected his Mega Evolution idea to be confirmed this easily. It proved that Gastly really did have the ability to complete Mega Evolution on its own. After all, he had never told Gastly anything about Mega Evolution, which meant this reaction was coming from Gastly's own instincts.
He still wasn't sure whether Gastly could pull off Mega Evolution in the real world. His guess was that it probably could—but the key problem would be energy.
In this dream world, there was no need to worry about energy at all. If it wanted to transform, it simply transformed. In reality, without enough energy, Gastly couldn't even complete a normal evolution, let alone a Mega Evolution.
Reiji decided to write this discovery down and leave deeper research for tomorrow. This dream world was obviously a huge treasure trove waiting to be developed.
At the very least, he could use it to sharpen battle technique and build muscle memory, and also let his Pokémon get used to their evolved forms in advance. That was another vein worth digging into.
This way, when they actually evolved in reality, they would already be familiar with their new power and wouldn't need an adjustment period.
On top of that, his own command sense and tactical planning could also be trained and refined inside this dream world.
All of that added up to very real value. For now, the list looked like this:
First, polish his Pokémon's battle technique and build real muscle memory.
Second, let them get used to their evolved forms ahead of time.
Third, sharpen his own commanding and tactical decision-making through repeated simulations.
"All right, go have fun for now."
After observing Gastly's Mega Evolution, Reiji waved for it to go play. He'd already done enough for one night; developing the dream world could wait until tomorrow.
Once Gastly drifted off, Reiji turned to Darkrai. "This is the method I mentioned to fix your nightmare problem. What do you think?"
"Th–this…" Darkrai finally reacted to what he was seeing.
It looked around at Butterfree and the other Pokémon happily playing in the living room, the silly ones fooling around by the little pond in the villa's yard, Poliwhirl and Scyther locked in a fierce battle, and Croagunk learning how to fight.
If this was a nightmare, it didn't seem scary at all. That was how Darkrai felt.
In this "nightmare," it wasn't alone. No humans or Pokémon here were afraid of it. Nobody shrank back at the sight of Darkrai. That feeling wasn't bad at all.
"Darkrai, this is only temporary," Reiji said. "I already have a way to fix the problem on your body. Don't rush it. For now, you can live here, get along with them, and be their friend. I'm your friend too…"
"I promise I'll help you deal with these nightmares that are bothering you. Nightmares themselves aren't something to fear. You don't need to reject them. Changing how your nightmares work takes time, and learning to control them also takes time. You can't just rush it…"
Reiji wasn't sure how much Darkrai really understood, but he'd done everything he could. If Darkrai refused to listen, then there was nothing more he could do. He'd already pushed himself as far as he could go.
First, he had to give Darkrai a home and a sense of safety.
Next, Darkrai needed to steadily grind up its Ability proficiency. That was the real key to solving the problem.
"I understand, human. I believe you can fix these nightmares. Thank you," Darkrai said.
It really liked this kind of life. It was something it had never experienced before, and it could see itself slowly getting used to living here.
"At least here, neither humans nor Pokémon fear me or run from me," Darkrai thought. "I don't have to wander around anymore. This feels… peaceful. Comfortable."
"No need to thank me. We're friends, aren't we?" Reiji lay back on the folding bed and waved a hand, telling Darkrai not to worry about it.
Darkrai was now his Pokémon—and a Legendary at that. Getting Nightmare God's acknowledgement already made him feel more than satisfied.
"Yes. Friends. Human friend," Darkrai said with a serious nod.
This was its first time feeling how wonderful having a friend could be—the trust, the acceptance. It liked this feeling and hoped they could stay friends for a long time.
Out of the corner of his eye, Reiji saw Darkrai walk back into the living room and start playing hide-and-seek with Butterfree and the other bored Pokémon. He couldn't help a helpless smile. He hadn't expected taking Darkrai in to be this easy.
If a Poké Ball only bound the body, then what he was doing right now was binding the heart. He'd captured Darkrai's trust. Sooner or later, both Darkrai's body and heart would fully belong to him. It was just a matter of time.
That was what Trainers were: people who, once they'd earned a Pokémon's recognition, moved on to grow and fight alongside them. That was the bond and friendship between Trainer and Pokémon.
It was also the kind of bond he wanted with Gastly. Once his Mega Evolution plan for Gastly came true, if he didn't have that bond, he might not be able to properly command a Gastly whose strength shot up too fast.
That problem had worried him a lot before—but now he'd found the solution. He could slowly build that bond with Gastly and no longer had to fear it going out of control.
And if Gastly really did lose control, he'd still have Darkrai to suppress it. In fact, his bond with Darkrai might develop even faster than his bond with Gastly. So far, his relationship with Gastly was mostly built on feeding it good food and providing food and lodging.
That kind of bond was still too fragile for a main battler.
It was the same reason Ash had such a hard time commanding his Charizard back then.
Without a single starter Pokémon who was both powerful and deeply bonded to him, Ash had no way to suppress a disobedient Charizard. That was the real reason Charizard stayed so rebellious and refused to listen.
Until, in the Orange Archipelago, he met that guy, Tad. After Tad's Poliwrath gave Charizard a brutal beatdown, Ash finally managed to "capture Charizard's heart" for real and brought it under control.
If not for that one harsh lesson from Tad's Poliwrath, Ash might have needed much longer to truly win Charizard over.
That was why Reiji treated Poliwhirl with such seriousness and insisted on keeping it as his strongest.
The bond between him and Poliwhirl was beyond question. As long as he had Poliwhirl—the strongest partner bound to him by that bond—he'd like to see which Pokémon dared to get rebellious. Any Pokémon that ignored commands would get beaten. If it didn't listen, he'd beat it again, and keep going until it submitted.
If in the end it still refused, he would simply let it go. He didn't need disobedient Pokémon.
Now, in his "daytime face," he had the strongest Poliwhirl. And under his masked robber alias, he had the strongest Darkrai.
He really wanted to ask, "So? Anyone else not convinced?"
They were welcome to step up so he could check whether they still had any spots on their head that weren't swollen yet.
He'd have Poliwhirl use its fists to hand out a full set of lumps—free of charge.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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