Gastly blinked.
Since it was born in these ruins, every creature it met either treated it like air or like an enemy—always with disgust.
This was the first time someone was willing to talk to it like a normal being!
In a rush, grievance and excitement flooded its chest. The words it'd bottled up burst out like a dam breaking.
It floated up beside Jason and, at machine-gun speed, poured its heart out: "Keh? You'll actually talk to me? And you don't hate me?"
Before Jason could respond, Gastly barreled on. He could feel it had a lot to get off its chest.
"I finally have a friend! Friend, you don't know—I found this place first!"
"But one day those ding-ding-ding pink runts showed up! They acted like they owned it!"
"I let it slide—I'm generous! I figured more neighbors would be lively, so I tried to play with them!"
"And what happened? That twin-ponytailed pink berserker called me a thief! Keh! I only licked her hammer once—and she chased me with that giant mallet!"
As it spoke, Gastly kept spinning, trying to show how big the hammer was.
"And that dead-faced metal plate!" it fumed, shaking with anger. "Even worse! It said I'm filth—dirty!"
"Last time I just wanted to see what shiny junk it was guarding—no questions, it pinned me to a wall with psychic force and scrubbed me raw! Now every time it sees me it blasts me!"
Jason listened quietly, letting the chatterbox ghost vent.
He got it now: Gastly had lived here, others barged in and bullied it. Rough lot.
When Gastly finally tired out and hovered aside, wiping "tears" with its tongue, Jason spoke. The timing was ripe.
"Want revenge?"
He skipped the comfort and dropped an irresistible bait.
"Keh?" Gastly paused.
"Want that hammer-swinging pink maniac to learn what it feels like to be toyed with?"
"Want to slam that iron plate into the dirt and grind it?"
Under Gastly's muddled gaze, Jason started the show.
A flash—Ditto became Maushold.
Four little white mice blitzed a dazzling combo in front of Gastly, showcasing blistering speed and aggression.
Before it recovered, Jason swapped again.
And again—each time a new Pokémon.
Gastly's eyes spun. One thought filled its head now: make friends. Befriending Jason meant so many new "friends," right?
"Be my friend, and I'll help you."
Jason returned to Ditto and, full of confidence, laid out his plan to the awestruck ghost:
"We team up and drive them all out. Then you call the shots here."
…
Gastly was completely won over by the display. It had never imagined it could stand up to Bronzor; it thought being bullied was its fate.
Jason's arrival was a sliver of dawn.
"Keh! Let's do it!"
It shrieked with excitement, body quivering, then surged forward to rub its gaseous self all over him.
It was in.
With Gastly's yes, Jason smiled. Making friends with Gastly meant more intel on Tinkatink—and a faster track on the Gastly Dex. He'd learned with Maushold: once a species accepts you as one of theirs, Dex progress speeds up.
"Good. First, brief me on this area so I can plan your payback."
"Okay!" Gastly spun in glee, then looked back. "Oh—call me Gast. I named myself! Do you have a name? If not, Gast can give you one!"
Jason blinked—this one really was different, naming itself. Rare.
He thought, then said, "Call me Jason."
"Jason?"
Gast mouthed the name—it felt a little odd, but it etched it into memory.
They dove into tactics for pinning Bronzor to the floor, Gast listening raptly—
When Jason's body suddenly twitched. His sharpened senses caught a strange energy pulse approaching from afar.
"Wait!"
He cut Gast off. "Something's coming! Hide—now!"
Though confused, Gast trusted him absolutely and melted into the corner's shadows.
Jason became an unremarkable gear again.
They'd barely hidden when three yellow, dopey-looking figures marched in lockstep into view.
His heart tightened. "Hypno? What are they doing here?"
Stranger still—each Hypno was carefully holding several gleaming metal spoons in its hands.
The trio ignored everything and walked straight toward the ore hill Bronzor guarded.
And the Bronzor that always hovered like a statue over the mound? Seeing the Hypno, it didn't attack like it had Gast and Tinkatuff. It drifted gently down.
The three Hypno stopped before Bronzor and respectfully presented the spoons.
Bronzor took them with telekinesis—
—and then, to Jason and Gast's bafflement, its body erupted with a surge of overwhelming psychic power.
Vmmm!
The entire metal-ore mountain—piled from countless top-grade rocks—lifted slowly under its mind.
The ground trembled.
Jason's insides roiled. This power dwarfed what it had used on Gast and Tinkatuff. It hadn't been serious before.
Then, even stranger—after raising the whole mound, Bronzor casually dropped the dozen spoons from the Hypno underneath the pile.
Once done, it set the mountain back in place.