"No, we don't know each other. As for knowing you for what you are — that was nothing but life force."
As he spoke, a dense mass of the Viridian Power appeared in Vance's palm, and the breath of life in all the Pokémon there stirred.
"Life force??"
What Vance said set the Gastly thinking. It felt he was telling the truth, that it was its own breath of life that had given its life away.
That was something it would have to watch.
The Viridian Power can indeed detect Pokémon, but it is limited by strength; where something is too far beyond you — like the Gastly in front of him — its true form cannot be made out at all.
Saying that was only an excuse; the real state of things was the information gap he had as a transmigrator.
But as long as it believed him, that was enough.
And as it had said itself, this Gastly did not seem to mean much harm; after pulling him into the illusion it had made no other move.
Because it made no other move, Alakazam, among his Pokémon, made none either.
And Vance took the chance to catch hold of this Gastly's information, which showed on the system's display.
> **Name:** Gastly (male) (Ancient Force)
> **Type:** Ghost / Poison
> **Ability:** Levitate
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 80
> **Moves:** Confuse Ray, Lick, Hypnosis, Night Shade, Mean Look, Spite, Curse, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, Payback, Destiny Bond, Dream Eater, Thunderbolt, Imprison, Trick Room, Giga Drain...
On the system's display a new descriptive term had appeared in the Gastly's data, proof of how extraordinary it was.
Ancient Force. Perhaps that was the reason the Gastly had survived more than a thousand years; and the passing of those thousand years had let this Gastly pile up the strength it had now, so that even with no more than Elite-Four-class aptitude it had been able to break past its limit.
Level 80, as high as Near-Champion, and one more step would make it Champion!
Yet by aptitude this Gastly had no more than Elite-Four-class, and had broken out of the normal run of things to hold Near-Champion strength, which was genuinely strange.
Besides which, an ordinary Gastly does not have so long a span of life, as much as a thousand years and more.
A thousand years and more. It would be no exaggeration to say the world had changed out of all recognition in that time.
This Gastly had a past of its own, and a remarkable one.
"That is the Viridian Power."
The Gastly recognised Vance's power as well. Having lived so many years, it naturally knew the Viridian Power.
"Mm."
Vance nodded in answer.
"The Viridian Power!! You must have trained it very deep. Can it bring a person back to life??"
There was a slight urgency in the Gastly's voice.
"It cannot. The power to bring back the dead belongs only to the legendary Ho-Oh. All I can do is heal injuries."
Vance explained, and seeing it in that state he had already guessed what it wanted to say. The person to be brought back would be the girl.
After so many years this Gastly was still holding her in mind.
"Hss-kek. A pity, then."
Disappointment showed in the Gastly's face. So that bright girl would stay as she was, and with the passing of time would be forgotten little by little — her face forgotten, her steadfastness forgotten, everything about her forgotten.
It, the Gastly, would not allow that. The girl would have her man come to her in the end. She certainly would.
To keep the world from forgetting, it made something happen every year, and that was the whole purpose of it: to let the world know she existed. Even if what it did brought nothing but an evil name, weird and frightening, that would still make people remember.
"You want the girl brought back to life??"
Vance said it suddenly, and it gave the Gastly a violent start.
"Hss—. How do you know that?"
Just then the Gastly found Vance unfathomable. He knew even that. Did the Viridian Power have the power to read minds as well??
"Have you got a way to do it?"
"A guess. This place is called Maiden's Peak, and there is a story behind the name; and besides, the shapes you take all have to do with a girl."
Vance's reasoning was clear, and he gave it out with the true and the false mixed together.
"You have a way, don't you? To give that girl a human body again, so she needn't stay in that cold stone statue."
The Gastly went on talking.
"If you can bring her back to life, I can pay you handsomely for it."
"I'm sorry. However handsome the payment, I haven't the ability. Knowing who it was you wanted brought back was only a guess of mine, too."
"No. I think you have a way. You must have a way."
The Gastly's face was worked up, and power broke out over the whole of it.
Darkness swept over that whole space, without a trace of light left in it, as though to trap him inside.
"Zam—"
A streak of light appeared, and Alakazam with it; together with Vance it broke open the black curtain of light and came out beyond it.
"Gastly! What do you mean by this? I have told you there is no way. However much more you say, there is still no way."
Vance said it in a hard voice, and his face was not pleasant either; but with Alakazam there he was a great deal more at ease.
Old as Alakazam was, the power it could bring to bear was at the Near-Champion standard.
Even if it could not win, it could get them away.
"A fight, is it? Hss-kek-kek—"
The black light gathered itself together, and an enormous Alakazam stood before them.
By eye it stood over forty metres tall — an absolute giant.
The strange thing was that the people of Maiden's Peak seemed not to see the giant Alakazam the Gastly had turned into overhead; they were busy with their own affairs and took no notice of the sight at all.
From that one could tell how strong this Gastly's abilities were, and that the ancient force did not work on its lifespan alone, but on its abilities too.
"Zam—"
Alakazam looked back at Vance, asking his opinion with its eyes.
Hard on it, at its age, to be put to work at this pitch.
"We can't match it by force. Find an opening and we withdraw."
Vance shook his head and said it to Alakazam in thought.
To be honest, Vance had not reckoned on this Gastly raising a hand against him. A thousand-year-old Pokémon was not something he wanted to be set against.
But things had come to this, and Vance was not going to be at another's mercy, with his life in somebody else's hands.
This Gastly had plenty of tricks. In the original, whichever Pokémon Ash sent out, it could turn itself into whatever would hold that Pokémon down.
A mousetrap to snap at Pikachu, a fire extinguisher to spray Charmander, a giant Venusaur and a giant Blastoise that frightened Ash's Bulbasaur and Squirtle out of their wits.
Those two never evolving afterwards might have had something to do with that very occasion.
"Hss-kek—"
"Zam—"
The two Pokémon looked at each other, and the fight was one touch away from breaking out.
"Stop. Don't fight. Mister Gastly, young Trainer, don't fight."
Into that strained air came an ethereal voice from the direction of the statue.
A faint starlight came off the statue, and countless points of light took the outline of a girl, calling out towards them.
"Hss-kek—"
The Gastly checked itself, drew in its presence, and came back from that giant Alakazam form to its original shape.