[Helped Gastly get revenge…]
[Gastly Dex completion +100%]
[Gastly Dex current completion: 100%]
[Gas Pokémon "Gastly" entry complete.]
…
[Defeated Bronzong…]
[Bronzor Dex completion +100%]
[Bronzor Dex current completion: 100%]
[Bronze Pokémon "Bronzor" entry complete.]
…
[Fought side-by-side with Tinkatuff…]
[Tinkatink Dex completion +30%]
[Tinkatink Dex current completion: 30%]
Jason glanced over the system prompts—two more entries in the bag. Very satisfying.
As expected: if there's no trouble, make some. Getting involved in "events" speeds Dex progress up a ton. If he'd had to slow-watch from the shadows, who knows how long it would've taken.
He dropped the two new base stat points into HP on the spot. With thirteen species logged now, his HP base stat had climbed to 61.
As he closed the panel, Gast floated up beside him, curious.
"Jason, you clearly saw that tin plate run—why didn't you stop it? What if it comes back for revenge?" she asked, a little shaken.
He paused. In his mind replayed Bronzong's escape: it hadn't simply fled. It used Heavy Slam to get out. That move hits harder the heavier the user is.
Whether he was Maushold, Glimmet, or anything similarly small, there was no way his tiny frame was taking a Heavy Slam from that thing. Be serious—one slam from that mass and he'd be paste. What, did they think he was a BMW i8 taking a head-on with a heavy truck? (And no, not the Lapras kind.)
He didn't tell Gast he'd chickened out, though. He coughed twice and put on a sage tone:
"A cornered foe shouldn't be chased. Grown-ups' business—don't worry about it."
"Hmph!" Gast bumped him with her gaseous body, annoyed. "I'm not a kid! I just evolved late, that's all!"
Just then, Tinkatuff caught up, her bright eyes roaming curiously over the purple jelly. "So you're a Ditto!"
Jason wobbled—a nod.
Confirmed, Tinkatuff still looked puzzled. In her experience, a Ditto needed a reference on hand to transform. She'd been in these ruins a long time—and she was sure Maushold had never appeared here. So how did this Ditto become Maushold?
After mulling it over, she assumed he'd met one before coming here.
While Tinkatuff wondered, they reached the little ore mound.
"Is this 'mountain'… different somehow?" Jason looked to Tinkatuff and Gast.
Tinkatuff closed her eyes and ran her metal-sensitive "sense" over it, then shook her head. Aside from high-grade metal, nothing special.
Gast drifted closer instead. She shut her eyes; her translucent body grew even more ethereal as she tapped a Ghost-type's unique perception.
Seconds later she snapped her eyes open, shouting, excited, "Jason! I can feel it! Under this mound—there's something with very high psychic energy!"
"Oh?"
Interest piqued. He eyed the giant hammer, then Tinkatuff's eager look—and chose not to let her smash it.
He'd do it himself.
To Tinkatuff's shock, his purple body flashed—and became a Yungoos!
He planted sharp foreclaws and used Dig at the base of the mound.
Seeing the Yungoos pop up, Tinkatuff wore the same "saw a ghost" face Iono once did. "W-what… now what is that?!"
Watching her overreaction, Gast swelled with pride. She floated over with a lofty sniff. "What's with the surprise? You've never heard of Ditto's Transform? Where's your culture?"
Tinkatuff shot the side-eye at the disdainful ghost and skewered her with one line: "Okay, then tell me—there isn't a single Yungoos in these ruins. How did he become a Yungoos?"
"Uh…"
Gast stalled. Truth was, she didn't know either. It was weird. But in front of outsiders, she'd defend Jason's glory no matter what.
Unconsciously, she'd already accepted him as a partner. Hands on hips—well, figuratively—and chest out—well, also figuratively—she huffed, "That's because Jason isn't like other Ditto! Jason's amazing!"
Tinkatuff chuckled, giving her a teasing look. "Well, well—is this the same little troublemaker I know?"
Catching the tease, Gast spluttered, "Mind your own business!"
…
While those two traded barbs, Jason had already tunneled to the mound's base.
He found a heap of spoons—exactly like the ones the three Hypno had carried. Most were crushed beyond recognition under the weight of the ore—just a pile of scrap.
"That's it?"
Disappointed. If Bronzor guarded it so seriously, surely there'd be treasure. Apparently not.
He was about to leave when a flicker of silver in a corner caught his eye.
Another spoon—but unlike the flattened junk around it, this one pulsed with powerful psychic energy. And its shape wasn't straight—the handle arced in a curve.
His eyes lit up.
"Whoa—a Twisted Spoon!"