It's the next day! Gohan and Lucy slept where they were – she sent Yamper out to keep watch, not that they really needed it. Even the stupidest pokémon could see Gohan's raw strength once they took a close look.
Shining eyes constantly flit in and out of sight as they walk along, Core-fish and Yamper out along side them. Gohan watches the sides of the path; it looks like a lot of pokémon are around here... but they seem kind of skittish. A quick glance at what was probably a pretty intimidating one ('Shiftry'?) sends it scampering off into the bush, startling the crawdad pokémon into scuttling for the protection of the small area between the two humans.
"Hey Lucy... is this normal?"
"Is what normal? ... Maybe not, but we don't have to follow the maps."
"N-no, I meant the way all the pokémon are acting."
"... What pokémon?"
He gives her a look. "What? I can't see in the dark." Ugh, right. Gohan sighs as he just sort of... generally gestures to their surroundings?
"There's a bunch of wild pokémon running around. And they're looking at us pretty weirdly..."
"Well, duh! People don't come this way often. You can handle them though, right?"
"Yeah..." he mutters, kind of unsure. Well, yeah, he's strong enough to use a planetoid like a volley ball. But... ah, that's honestly good enough. So why does he feel a creeping feeling of dread?
Whaaatever. They trundle onwards, pushing aside the brush. Wait... the path? Where's the path? "Lucy... where's the path?"
She rolls her eyes, before actually looking and realizing wait, there is no path. Did they get turned around?! He gulps at her confused shrug.
He thought the Paozu forest was bad as a kid, but this place is totally weird! The trees were actually close enough to block out the sun almost entirely, and it was eerily quiet. The cries of pokémon echo through the woods... but shouldn't there be more of them? Man, he can barely see through the wait a goddamn second.
"... Lucy? Is there supposed to be purple fog?"
"Uh oh."
Uh oh? That isn't good.
Wild Gastly appeared!
Lucy gets behind Gohan, quickly returning a too-curious-for-his-own-good Yamper and covering her mouth with some cloth. "Gohan! T-that's a gastly!" she says. Sharp eyes slide out of the mist, atop an unnaturally wide grin. Despite himself... Gohan feels uneasy.
"Bleh!"
Well, that just ruined the atmosphere. The saiyan grunts, mind whirling. Lucy covering her mouth means that this gas is probably pretty bad to inhale. Poison...? Saiyans can take worse toxins than humans, so he should be relatively fine. Maybe it's even Poison instead of poison and he'll be totally fine. ... No, it's what the thing is physically made of, it's definitely mundane toxins.
"Core-fish, use... Bubble Beam!"
The toxic wisp quickly lifts its main core to make Core-fish's bubbled beam whoosh under it. The poison clouds are disrupted, but they're more by-product than a proper part of its body.
"Gohan, it's a Ghost-type! Use any of your other moves! ... Except Sludge Bomb."
Core-fish used Crunch! The wild Gastly avoided the attack!
"Crap! Core-fish, use Knock Off!"
The pokémon spits dramatically and winds up a punch, glaring at the cackling visage of the gastly. He watches... gastly cackles... it's distracted! NOW!
Core-fish used Knock Off! It's Super Effective! The wild Gastly's Sitrus Berry was knocked off!
Right in the kisser! Core-fish falls to the ground, squealing a bit as he lands on his side. That's nothing compared to how pissed Gastly is right now, though. Gohan and Lucy glance upwards, the glowing eyes shining out of the treetops as its smile swivels into a frown. A cartoonish red welt bulges from the spot on its core where Core-fish landed that hit.
A dark glow...
"Corephiiiish? Is it just me, or did..."
The wild Gastly used Night Shade! Core-fish fainted!
"Core-fish, return," Gohan mumbles as Gastly's mouth completes its swivel and sets back into place as a smile. "Think one of yours will do better, Lucy?"
"G-gohan?" she stutters. "Ghosts are s-supposed to be super weak to Dark-type attacks... and... and Night Shade does damage equal to the user's level. This gastly is way too strong."
"BLEH!"
The wild Gastly used Night Shade! Yamper fainted!
UH.
"... Lucy, run."
Lo and behold, she is already running. He keeps his eyes on the sinister Ghost-type, taking its mockery as she run away. The last thing he hears of her is a quick struggle to open her bag for some Potions.
"Bleh!"
A long, kind of disgusting tongue lolls out of its mouth as it cackles. The face then starts to swivel around on a point, causing the tongue to whip around everywhere! Luckily, while fast, it's not supersonic; the saiyan grunts before easily weaving around the lashes of ghostly appendage. The rotation starts to slow down as Gastly realizes it isn't getting anywhere, and a far more serious frown adorns its face.
"Go, Sighduck!"
"PSYYYYY... duck? FIIIINALLY, some time to... to... is that a ghost?!"
"Sighduck, stay on your toes!" With a quick look up, the duck notes that indeed, Gastly is already preparing to fire an attack at him! He quickly rolls to the side (The wild Gastly used Night Shade! Sighduck avoided the attack!) and fires an Ice Beam at the ghost. "Blaagh!" It hits true, and it seems the level difference is not so immense! Gastly appears to be down a fair amount of HP.
It grimaces, and uses Destiny Bond. Sighduck holds back, hesitating for just long enough– The wild Gastly used Night Shade!
...
Where is this? The world seems black, somehow. Black and empty...
No, it's purple. Where is this?
"Gaaaastly..."
W-w-
"GASTLY! ї풌\횢ɑw\5픃ǎ 6ҩxɽި ¯x؈8چ i其죧䎛 !"
...
Gohan grimaces as he returns Sighduck. He wasn't totally unable to battle yet – he shook off that... whatever it was, pretty quickly. A sort of mirage hitting him and causing... catatonic damage? He looked catatonic and was being damaged at the same time, at least.
"All right, you big mean ghost!" Gohan shouts, putting up his dukes. The gastly's eyes bug out in surprise. A normal person would just roll over and die, or at least try to run, once a terribly spooky ghost wiped out their defenses. What does this mad child intend to do? "You have one chance to leave us alone before I beat the crap out of you!"
Hah! HAH! You fool, you absolute buffoon! Humans don't have any moves that can directly harm ghosts. They don't have any STAB unless they reach an absurdly high levels – or attacks that can hurt Ghost-types at all for that matter. And the ones that follow the path of the martial artist... Gastly's grin widens again, and a creaking noise can be heard. Gohan gulps at the sight. That just ain't right.
"You asked for this, buddy," he says before lifting off the ground. Gastly coughs in surprise as before he knows it, a fist impacts and phases through his face...!
Gohan used Mach Punch! It doesn't affect the wild Gastly...
The pokémon blinks as it realizes that what it just felt was a failed punch. Jesus, that was like an airsoft cannon! Is this guy a Fighting-type freak like that Chuck dude? It quickly shunts its facial features backwards through its core, staring at Gohan's form.
The wild Gastly used Night Shade!
And there goes... less than one ten-thousandth of Gohan's total energy reserves. It's Gastly's turn to gulp as Gohan faces it, hovering at its level in the treetops. This human kid is a... what is he? Well, he has a hellishly high amount of HP at the very least. If he knows any, any moves that aren't Normal or Fighting-type... Gastly does't want to learn if Gohan's Attack and Defense are of similar magnitudes.
The saiyan launched back at the Ghost-type, his arm sailing forwards. Gastly flinched as a barrage of punches disrupted its core, almost disrupting its form with its sheer speed and force. Gohan grows more and more frustrated as his punches only go through his target.
"T-these aren't moves! They're just punches! Oh, oh my Uxie, how much Aura must this guy be packing for his punches to not-affect me like they were Normal moves?!"
A frowning Gohan raises a hand: Gastly tilts his head as a yellow light starts to spark to life in the saiyan's palm, quickly condensing into a pulsating orb.
"Bleh...?"
Gohan used Ki Blast! It doesn't affect the wild Gastly...
He gags and ripples as a shockwave rings out – it looks like he's been driven up against what was once the intact trunk of a tree, now almost blown to smithereens. The top has been shorn off by Gohan's latest punch, and –
...
Gastly blinks back into consciousness, coughing up sawdust particulate. He sees the flying kid toss a shred of wood behind him – did he smack him with a tree branch?! Heh, that's a way to get around type immunity...
Gohan touches down in front of the Ghost-type and winces; he looks like he's been diagonally cut down the center! The gastly gives a weak smirk.
"BLEH!"
"You still want to make faces at me – Gah!" The wild Gastly used Lick...! Gohan was Paralyzed! "W-whuah?!" he shouts as he trips over his own feet, faceplanting into the dirt as Gastly reassembles and cackles.
The floored Gohan grits his teeth, rolling onto his back and glaring at the Gastly. What is this?! His whole aura (lowercase) feels like it's seizing up! Every movement is a struggle, and sometimes he just spasms and fails to move at all...
The wild Gastly used Hex! It still does almost nothing at all...
...
The pokémon looks over its moves. Lick? Not nearly damaging enough. Night Shade? The lad has too much total HP to whittle away with it. Hex? ... He thought that would work, he really did! And it still barely affected the kid...! All that's left is Destiny Bond, and that's... well, being KOd is never a great thing. The kid grumbles, lurching to his feet and turning around. He tries to throw a swipe.
Gohan is Paralyzed! He can't move!
"Gastly gastly...? Kid... I can't hurt you, and you can't hurt me. Why don't we just... part ways?" the Ghost-type pleads. He realizes a second too late that Gohan, despite his peculiar abilities and insane raw stats, still can't understand pokémon speech. God... even Paralyzed, this kid will be way too fast to escape... he has to... he has to...!
Gohan growls and lurches forwards, barely missing Gastly with an absolutely devastating swipe. It hits him with Hex again... and again... and again... desperately trying to deal enough damage to get Gohan off its back. The fight devolves into Gastly slowly backing up, and maneuvering around the trees while Gohan unsteadily bounds after it, his body occasionally seizing up in contractions as the Paralysis throttles his metaphysical anatomy.
The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! The wild Gastly used Hex! It's not very effective...The wild Gastly used Hex! It's not very effective...The wild Gastly used Hex! It's not very effective...
There's no PP left for that Move!
"Bleh!?"
Gohan suddenly lunges forwards, planting his fist into Gastly's face. It still doesn't make contact, not really, but... Gastly feels something. It quickly uses Lick before swirling up the nearest tree, vanishing into the canopy.
"You... get back here, ghost!"
Annoyance Vexation Dissatisfaction Disgruntlement Hindrance
Gohan's energy flares, illuminating the forest around him in a flash of... darkness? His aura is light, yeah, but it seems almost purplish compared to its normal basic white sheen. The frustration of this 'battle' must be getting to him... darkening his ki... Semi-concealed pokémon that had watching the battle squeal and scamper away as the shadows they were hiding in are blown away; and Gastly's eyes bug out as Gohan locks on to him.
The tree nearest to Gastly explodes into wooden shards when Gohan stares at it hard enough, the Ghost-type's form rippling harder than ever before with the sheer force. That kid looks like he's getting mighty ticked off. Why can't he just... give up and let the toxins take him down?! Or at least run away so he doesn't have to deal with this anymore!
FUTILITY STRUGGLE FAILURE IMPEDIMENT IRRITATION
"Arrgh!" Agh, okay Gohan, calm down. It's obvious that your normal attacks don't work on this thing – something something Normal and Fighting-type attacks. The tree brach you smacked it with earlier worked really well, even if you weren't able to put any real strength into it. "Gah... you're really something else, ghost..."
The wild Gastly used Lick! It's not very effective...
FRUSTRATION RESENTMENT TANTRUM FURY STORM HATRED HATRED HATRED–!
Gohan used Brutal Swing! It's Super Effective! The wild Gastly fainted!
Marshadow: the Gloomdweller Pokémon
Class: Demon
National Pokédex Number: Unconfirmed
Ability: Technician, Iron Fist, or Adaptability
Signature Move: Spectral Thief
Egg Group: Undiscovered
Transformations: Zenith Marshadow
Type: Ghost/Fighting, suspected
Height: 0.7 m
Weight: 22 kg
Able to conceal itself in shadows, it never appears before humans, so its very existence is the stuff of myth. Reports of it in the Alola region are common but usually dismissed as hogwash. However, looking at it objectively, it doesn't seem too farfetched – many common pokémon are far more absurd if plainly described. The only problem with marshadow seems to be the inability to conclusively catch one; which makes sense, for a Ghost-type.
When it becomes fired up it is said to undergo a transformation into what is known as its 'Zenith' form; surrounded by green fire and bursting with power supposedly associated with secret and powerful techniques the Alolans call 'Z-Moves'. Exactly how this could work under the hood is debated, especially since all rumours have its Ability as a known one that clearly does have this effect. The actual method of transformation may be similar to morpeko's Ability 'Hunger Switch' or aegislash's Ability 'Stance Change'.