Day 38 of the journey. Light rain.

On Rind Island, Reiji still hadn’t caught a Magikarp yesterday, so he was back at it today. Quincy stayed beside him like always, helping release the Magikarp they didn’t want.

They fell into the same loop as the past two days—until something finally broke the routine.

Pelipper perched up high and was the first to notice something different at camp. It flapped down in a hurry to alert Reiji.

“Pelipper, what’s wrong?” Reiji sprang to his feet. He couldn’t make sense of the cry, but Darkrai filled in immediately.

“Zubat is evolving…”

“Zubat?” Reiji dashed back toward the tents. Doing the math in his head, he’d had Zubat for over half a month now—close to twenty days.

Zubat’s first evolution came at Level 22. The second one needed friendship, which he could build up over time.

Newborn Pokémon grew fast. If nutrition and training kept pace, gaining a level a day wasn’t unusual. Zubat had already been around Level 5 or 6 when he caught it, so evolving now made perfect sense.

He reached the tent, rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out his purest Flying Gem—over seventy percent purity. One was plenty for Zubat.

He didn’t even consider a Poison Gem. Zubat was already toxic enough. Feeding it more poison energy would be asking for trouble.

With the Flying Gem in hand, he followed Pelipper’s guidance and quickly found Zubat training in the woods.

The glow of evolution flickered across Zubat’s body, brightening and dimming like it was being forced down. Reiji didn’t hesitate—he pushed the Flying Gem into Zubat’s mouth.

“Zubat, you’ve held it in long enough. Eat this, then evolve,” Reiji said, and motioned for it to stop suppressing the light and let it break free.

Zubat chirped, then finally released the glow.

A white flash washed over it—and vanished.

Zubat was gone. In its place hovered Golbat, bigger all around, with a mouth that looked almost comically wide. It was like Zubat scaled up into a stronger frame.

“Golbat, congratulations,” Reiji said, smiling as the evolution finished cleanly.

Kingler crawled over to join in, clicking its claws in approval. When it had evolved back then, everyone had congratulated it too—and it had even dragged back a shark and shared it around.

Gengar drifted down from the treetops as well. It had been eating plenty of Zubat’s toxins already. Now that Zubat had evolved, the poison would only get thicker and nastier—Gengar looked almost curious about what that “taste” would turn into.

Croagunk sounded genuinely envious. This little one had joined later, yet it evolved faster than Croagunk had. Croagunk didn’t know when its own turn would come.

That part was unavoidable. Zubat evolved at Level 22. Croagunk evolved at Level 37. It still had a long way to go.

Shelmet chirped too, soaking in the atmosphere for the first time. It knew it could evolve—it had heard Reiji mention it—but it had no idea when that day would arrive.

Ditto called out as well, though it could only transform, not evolve.

Spinarak added its quiet congratulations. As for the poisonous mushrooms in the forest, only a handful of them would dare snack on those.

Pelipper stayed on a branch and called down one last congratulatory cry, the final Pokémon to arrive.

The rest were either training elsewhere or simply not around. With everyone here cheering it on, Golbat already looked satisfied.

Reiji left space for them, then quietly opened Golbat’s status window. He wanted to see whether its potential had pushed past the Elite Four threshold.

[Golbat]

[Type: Poison/Flying][Gender: Male][Potential: 65%][Level: 23.13%][Ability: Inner Focus / 12.53%] [Hidden Ability: Infiltrator / 11.13%][Moves: Quick Attack: 16.11% / Hypnosis: 9.14% / Poison Fang: 26.45% / Venoshock: 25.74% / Toxic: 30.82% / Mean Look: 8.64% / Protect: 13.88% / Air Cutter: 15.54% / Air Slash: 14.32% / Sludge Bomb: 25.64% / Wing Attack: 19.31% / Absorb: 12.21% / Supersonic: 23.12% / Screech: 22.35% / Bite: 18.41%]

Potential at 65%. Elite Four potential, no question. Its level had also reached 23.

Both abilities had improved too. Inner Focus helped prevent flinching and ignored Intimidate. Infiltrator let it bypass things like Light Screen and Substitute.

Reiji hadn’t checked this panel in over half a month. He didn’t expect the growth to be this obvious. Proficiency across the board had climbed, and the Poison-type moves still stood out the most by a wide margin—especially Toxic.

That alone said enough about how vicious Zubat’s poison really was.

On top of what it already knew, it had picked up a bunch of new moves recently.

Mean Look didn’t need much explanation—anyone who’d played the games knew what it did, and it was similar in function to Mega Gengar’s Shadow Tag.

Protect was another common one. It probably learned it while training alongside the others.

Air Cutter and Air Slash were both good Flying-type moves.

Bite was a Dark-type move, a stepping stone toward Crunch. Any Pokémon with teeth could usually learn those.

Screech worked like Supersonic in the sense that both used sound to disrupt an opponent.

Sludge Bomb was Poison-type, and once Golbat learned it, the proficiency climbed quickly—poison came naturally to it.

Some of those starter moves were just transitional. He could train them a bit, but only as groundwork for stronger options later. There was no reason to sink too much time into them.

Besides, with Golbat’s Poison-type talent, it didn’t even need a wide kit. Once Toxic stuck, even Poison-type Pokémon could still drop if they couldn’t withstand it.

“Golbat, you evolved today, so you’re off for a day,” Reiji said. “Anyone who wants to play with Golbat can take the day off too.”

Golbat fluttered over and landed on his shoulder. Getting chosen, getting caught—it really had been lucky.

Compared to the suffocating place it came from—Team Rocket—staying with Reiji was worlds better. Food, shelter, and real meals. And the team around it wasn’t bad either.

“Keep your fangs tucked away,” Reiji said, patting its head. “If you nick me, it’ll be a headache.”

He took out a box of Pokéblocks meant for Flying-type Pokémon, plus some other types, and handed them over for Golbat to share.

“Eat here and take it slow. If you want, pick some Berries in the forest and turn it into a little feast. I’ve still got things to do—if you run out, come tell me.”

Golbat folded its poisonous fangs away, brushed its cheek against Reiji’s, then clamped a Pokéblock in its mouth and flew off.

After seeing Golbat go, Reiji headed back to the river. Quincy and Butterfree were still waiting there.

“Rai, what happened?” Quincy asked. Reiji had been gone long enough that Quincy thought something serious had come up.

“Nothing big. Zubat evolved,” Reiji said with a wave. It was good news, so he didn’t hide it.

“Oh, that little bat,” Quincy said, relaxing. He didn’t press further and went back to releasing Magikarp.

Reiji joined him again. By the time they wrapped up, they’d pushed past noon and into the afternoon.

After they stopped for the day, Quincy ate dinner and headed back. Reiji didn’t try to catch more Magikarp either. It was getting ridiculous. He decided to rest for a night and reset his head.

If he kept grinding like this, his mindset would collapse—and he still wouldn’t have a Magikarp to show for it.

Since arriving on Rind Island, he’d been here ten days. The Magikarp run had been going for nine. He still had time. The worst thing he could do was rush himself into mistakes.

He wasn’t catching Magikarp tonight. While he calmed down, he also wanted to settle Gengar’s issue. That 0.99 on the panel was driving him insane—every time he closed his eyes, it was 0.99 again.

Quincy was gone now. In this stretch of forest, it was just him. If he sealed the tent and covered it with black cloth, no one would see the evolution light.

“Darkrai, take the outside,” Reiji said, pulling the gems out inside the tent. “If anything shows up, warn me.”

“Understood,” Darkrai said. It knew what he was about to do. Too bad it couldn’t evolve—it could only absorb energy slowly.

Once Darkrai stepped out, Reiji turned to Gengar. “Gengar, how many gems are left from last time?”

Gengar opened its mouth and spat the gems into the basin Reiji had prepared.

Reiji put on gloves and counted through them. Out of the original 110, there were 108 left.

So in all that time, without evolving, it had only absorbed two gems.

That efficiency was painfully slow.

“Alright,” Reiji said. “Use evolution to digest these.”

He pushed the basin toward Gengar, then brought out another 250 gems and set them down. Gengar could burn through them as it pleased.

Gengar stared at that pile of energy, temptation plain on its face. It didn’t want to absorb them through evolution. It wanted to lick them slowly, one by one.

“It says it doesn’t want to eat them like this,” Darkrai translated. “It wants to take its time…”

“Darkrai?” Reiji pinched the bridge of his nose. “Weren’t you supposed to be outside?”

“Spinarak is out there,” Darkrai said simply. It didn’t want to admit it, but curiosity had won.

“Gengar, don’t worry. There are plenty of gems,” Reiji said, patting Gengar’s dark head. Even if Gengar hit its potential cap, he wasn’t going to stop buying gems.

If potential maxed out, there was still level growth. With enough energy and training, he could stack power anyway.

He just wouldn’t rush the levels. Growing too fast had its own problems. He planned to raise Gengar steadily, and let their bond deepen along the way.

Gengar looked torn. If it licked them slowly, who knew how long it would take to finish two whole basins.

In the end, it could only start digesting a chunk through evolution first. If it didn’t, Reiji would make it share with Darkrai—share with everyone.

Eat now, and it all stayed with Gengar. Take it slowly, and it would have to split it. That dilemma genuinely bothered it.

As Gengar evolved and devolved repeatedly, it chewed through over a hundred gems—and the potential still didn’t budge.

It moved from 0.89 to 0.99, then stayed stuck at 0.99.

The first hundred-plus gems had cost over fifty million. This new two hundred-plus batch was over a hundred million. Total: more than one hundred and fifty million.

If that still wasn’t enough, Reiji didn’t even know what to say. If over a hundred million couldn’t push past the 0.99 cap, then he could only keep going—he’d already told himself he’d spend two hundred million if he had to.

Then, when Gengar swallowed down to the last forty-something gems, its panel finally changed.

[Gengar (Shiny)]

[Type: Ghost/Poison][Gender: Male][Potential: ???][Level: …]

Reiji froze.

He’d thrown over a hundred million into it, and this was what the system showed him?

One hundred meant one hundred. One hundred and one meant one hundred and one. What were three question marks supposed to mean?

Had Gengar’s potential actually broken past the limit?

That was it? Just… this?

It made his head spin. Was that a limit or wasn’t it? The panel itself wouldn’t say.

So what did those three question marks even represent?

“Gengar, how do you feel?” Reiji asked. The only way to judge was to ask the Pokémon directly.

Gengar examined itself from top to bottom. It didn’t look uncomfortable—just stuffed. The only difference was the energy inside it felt heavier, like it had overeaten.

“It says it doesn’t feel anything,” Darkrai translated. “It’s just fuller than before.”

Reiji rubbed his chin. “Alright. Let’s try Mega Evolution.”

Gengar heard the words and immediately flared with light, shifting into its Mega form.

“So that’s it,” Reiji murmured.

Gengar was the kind of Pokémon that could break normal evolution rules, evolving and devolving freely—even reverting all the way back to Gastly if it wanted. Mega Evolution being possible wasn’t surprising anymore.

And with potential showing “???”, devolving to Gastly would be pointless anyway. Better to keep it in Gengar’s form, where it could use that power properly.

“That’s enough,” Reiji said. “Change back. Go play. Keep the rest of the gems and eat them slowly if you want—I’m going to sleep.”

He pulled off the black cloth covering, and Mega Gengar reverted.

Back in its normal form, Gengar spat out a clear gem. Mega Evolution wasn’t free—just now it had drained that gem’s energy.

In a real fight, it would also consume energy, but it wouldn’t cost levels. It would burn stored energy, and Pokéblocks could replenish it.

Seeing the clear gem, Reiji finally relaxed. The cost of Mega Evolution was something he could afford.

He lay down and drifted off.

Gengar’s problem was settled. Now there was only one problem left, Magikarp…

[End of chapter]

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