The Ghost Specialist

The Dusclops shuffled more than it walked. Its feet dragged against the ground, each push forward corresponding with a shake. Its body was stiff, and it twisted to the side when it lifted its legs. A Pokémon on Morty’s team had to be strong, but as Sam watched Dusclops move, all he could think was that the Pokémon looked... goofy.

He heard a snort behind him. Redi covered her mouth. Likely, the only reason she didn’t outright laugh was out of respect for a member of Morty’s personal team. Gym Leaders had to be able to provide the appropriate challenges for trainers, which usually meant viable Pokémon couldn’t outpace an eight-star challenge. Dusclops represented a step above that, as Morty’s team was publicly graded at nine.

This Dusclops was likely one of the strongest Ghost Types in Johto, but nothing about it was that spooky to Sam. Yes, its appearance was creepy enough, and the way its singular eye seemed to both stare forward and stare right at him was unsettling, but there wasn’t the usual deep chill in the air, and the lights above their heads were as bright and stable as always.

It was just a Pokémon. It didn’t carry the expected Ghost Type effects. Once it reached the center of the courtyard’s battlefield, it stopped and shuffled a bit more to face the opposite end.

“Are you Morty’s Pokémon?” Sam called out to ask.

He took a step forward to get closer. With her injured ankle, Redi stayed on the bench behind him.

The Dusclops didn’t verbalize any answer. It had two large hands, paler than the rest of its body, that unconsciously clenched and unclenched as it stared towards the other side of the battlefield. It didn’t do anything other than stand still and wait there.

“Nurse Joy said we could ask you to help us train,” Sam said slowly. “So... Would you be willing to help us train?”

Nothing.

It was like talking to a brick wall.

Annoyed, Sam sent a glance toward Redi, but she just shrugged instead of giving any advice. Beneath her bench, a Gastly hovered above its shadow and watched the much stronger Ghost Type curiously. Sam couldn’t tell if the Gastly was Tibia or Fibula.

Though the Dusclops never reacted to Sam or Redi, its position hinted at its intentions. It very deliberately stood in the center of the battlefield, and though it was no longer looking at Sam, it was looking at the trainer box opposite to it. Sam couldn’t exactly say it was staring expectantly with how unemotional its face was, but it clearly wanted something to happen.

“So we are battling you,” he said.

If Primeape was out, the ape Pokémon would have lost his head over how the Dusclops refused to do anything but stand there.

Sam moved back closer to Redi, wanting a quick chat before either of them came to a decision.

“This thing is getting on my nerves,” she grumbled, peeling her eyes away from Dusclops as Sam approached.

“If I was Morty... maybe this is a test? He could have told his Pokémon to help us train, and a spar is a good way to determine a baseline.”

Redi frowned, glancing between Sam and the Dusclops. Something unhappy flashed across her face.

“So, what, we fight it one at a time?” she asked.

“We could do a double battle?” Sam offered. “I don’t think it has strong opinions about how we do this.”

Redi grunted and leaned back against the bench. Even with them barely bothering to lower their voices, the Dusclops made no effort to react to their conversation about it.

“Yeah, I want to fight it,” Redi said after several long seconds, “but I don’t think that’s the right choice. At least not right now. I... can’t let myself jump into battles without thinking. Can you fight it? I think I’m gonna stay here and do my best to think up a counter strategy. We’ll turn this into practice for both of us.”

Sam took in her look, seeing the hardness in her eyes. Her goal was to improve her skill at strategy. From experience, he knew observing could help.

“Alright. Then I expect a breakdown of both sides when I get back.”

“What? Don’t give me homework!”

He smirked at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. Sam snickered as he walked off, knowing that Redi would try to go overboard now, just to tick him off.

As he moved over to the empty trainer box, Sam took in Dusclops. He knew Morty had a few Gengar he personally trained, and the Gym Leader’s Mismagius had made them tea back in Ecruteak. Dusclops wasn’t a Pokémon commonly found in Johto, but it was common to Sam’s home in the nearby Hoenn. It wasn’t unfounded for one to be present in the region, and it had likely trained for a long time if it was a part of Morty’s public team.

Except, Sam had spent years looking into the Ghost Type. He had no memory of actually seeing a Dusclops in any of Morty’s battles posted online.

So what do I know about Dusclops? They’re pure Ghost Types. Low stamina but high defenses. The species is entirely hollow, capable of hypnosis, and it’s said that anyone who looks into a Dusclops’s body gets their soul sucked away.

He almost missed his next step.

But they also say that about Shedinja and a lot of other Ghost Types. I haven’t really heard of anyone dying to them, so that’s probably not relevant.

Upon reaching the trainer box, Sam’s hand lingered above the Pokéballs on his belt. His team had been returned earlier just in case of a battle like this. Now, Dusclops was staring at Sam. It passively clenched its hands once more.

Sam could almost call the movement a stretch to warm up.

“I’ll be sending out my Pokémon to try to defeat you. We need practice against stronger opponents. I’m hoping that you can help us with that,” he said.

The Dusclops’s red eye looked as though it was burning. The shadows under its feet began to darken, and Sam felt his heart skip a few beats in his chest.

It was ready to fight. Sam was more excited than he was afraid.

“You’ll be the strongest Ghost Type we’ve ever faced, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to win!” he called out. “We’re starting! Quilava! Will-O-Wisp!”

There was no referee to guide their battle, and Redi was busy trying to figure out a counter strategy for Dusclops. Sam would be the one to determine how the battle progressed, and given how strong the Dusclops likely was, he didn’t think it was too out of place for him to start the battle on his own.

He tossed a Pokéball into the air, and a red light burst onto the field. Quilava appeared and exploded forward, motes of flame sparking up to float around her.

She immediately dashed to the side, circling Dusclops with incredible speed. Her fur glowed with embers—Quick Attack let her move with that initial burst, and then Flame Charge gave her the momentum to keep going.

The Dusclops didn’t move as she kept a distance away but also never once let her eyes look away. She built up the number of flames floating around her while tracking the motionless Dusclops on the field. It didn’t react to her presence, and it didn’t even turn its head. Though she was using Will-O-Wisp, she didn’t unleash it just yet. She was trying to gauge her foe to figure out the best way to send out her attack.

“When you can!” Sam yelled.

Quilava skidded to a halt and let her flames sail forward with the same momentum. They started to curve in their path, but before they could get anywhere close, Sam felt all the air leave his throat.

He started to choke, unable to breathe. It was like someone had taken millions of needles made of ice and stabbed them into every inch of his bones at once.

Quilava’s fur stood up all across her body, and her eyes were wide with fear. The space around Dusclops was hazy.

Even Redi looked pale.

“T-that’s P-Pressure,” Sam gritted out.

He was shivering. The Dusclops was glowering. Pressure wasn’t a move, it was an ability. Most books described it as an effect that made it hard for Pokémon to use moves.

In this case, it was like the entire power of the Ghost Type on the field was bearing down on him and his Pokémon. Every single Will-O-Wisp winked out. Quilava’s pupils were as wide as they could go. The Dusclops didn’t even bother to look their way, but if Sam had to describe the emotion that had finally overcome its previously expressionless face, the Dusclops looked annoyed.

“It’s just Pressure!” Sam repeated, clenching his fists to give himself the courage to shout. “Just an ability! It can’t prevent you from doing anything, just make it harder to use moves!”

Quilava took a shaky step back, hackles raised. However, even though she was so stiff, that one step was enough to inform her that there wasn’t anything physical keeping her down, and she was able to slowly regain a semblance of her speed as she resumed her circle around Dusclops.

While nothing had changed about the Ghost Type, Sam swore that its red eye wavered synchronized with the flickering of flames. It didn’t look at Quilava—it looked at Sam. There was a silent question about its expression.

“Did you think that would be enough?”

Sam snarled. Having Quilava use Will-O-Wisp wasn’t them holding back. Leading with Quilava was the basis of their strategy. She used her speed and flames to test and prod her opponents, gauging their strength to inform Sam about the rest of the fight.

But if the Dusclops wanted to face something more, then Sam was willing to oblige.

“Return!” Sam shouted.

He could have ordered a Smokescreen, but he had a strong gut feeling that losing sight of Dusclops would be a horrible mistake.

Replacing Quilava was Misdreavus. Her usual soft smile fell the moment she was subjected to Dusclops’s Pressure. Thankfully, she didn’t freeze up and even seemed more ready than normal to fight in this battle. Her eyes met Dusclops’s eye, and the Ghost Type’s gaze finally flicked away from Sam to look at her—if only for the briefest moments.

“We might not have those utility moves mastered, but you still have your attacks, Misdreavus!” Sam shouted. “Shadow Ball! Harry it! Focus on your speed!”

Misdreavus cried her name, the sound of her voice transitioning into a haunting cry. Shadows gathered ahead of her mouth to form a Shadow Ball that rocketed forward.

Dusclops responded by merely holding its hands out, its fingers outstretched to let it present its palms. Instead of the Shadow Ball bursting against its body, the move was stopped in its tracks.

The attack utterly froze in the air, being held in place via Dusclops’s two hands. All of the move’s momentum vanished, and without any movement to it, the Shadow Ball was less willing to stay together. It fell apart, dissipating. Dusclops looked unaffected.

“What was that, Sam?” Redi shouted. There was worry in her voice.

Misdreavus didn’t move. She stared at Dusclops in shock.

“That was... nothing. It was nothing. Dusclops didn’t use a move. It wasn’t a technique. It just used its... inherent tankiness.”

Sam couldn’t stop the nervous laugh that left his throat.

Shadow Ball might not have carried the guaranteed effects of Acid Spray, but it had a small chance of weakening its target's defenses. That was what Sam had been hoping for by having Misdreavus use Shadow Ball; she could force Dusclops to take a bit of damage while fishing for the shadows to seep into it and make it more vulnerable to further special moves.

That obviously hadn’t happened.

Misdreavus, after taking a moment to recover, narrowed her eyes, and she rushed to the side to fly around Dusclops in a circle, not unlike Quilava before her. This time, when she used Shadow Ball, she didn’t take as long to build it up and kept the attack small but quick. In a regular barrage, she unleashed her shadowy spheres many times over. The Dusclops never once turned to face her, and unlike that large, initial Shadow Ball, each one of these attacks hit with ease.

They weren’t large enough to carry the effect Sam wanted, but they were at least damaging to the high-level Dusclops. Sam pushed through the feeling of Pressure around him to smile. While Misdreavus had to fight to attack, she was attacking. Even if she wasn’t able to do anything else, she was at least dealing a bit of damage that the rest of his team could capitalize on.

Her barrage continued, but Dusclops never once winced. The super effective moves left marks, yet the Pokémon never reacted to the pain. It remained in place as Misdreavus continued her assault. By the end of it, she was left panting. Using so many attacks under Pressure had taken its toll.

It was then that Dusclops finally moved. It shuffled in place, turning towards Misdreavus. Darkened spots marred its body, and its dusky bandages had bent inwards where it had been hit.

Weirdly enough, Sam would have said it almost looked close to fainting. However, that thought didn’t last. Misdreavus began to scream.

Dusclops’s eye didn’t glow with any specific move, but the space around its red pupil became covered in a haze. The darkened marks on Dusclops’s body faded away only to start reappearing on Misdreavus herself.

“...Pain Split,” Sam mumbled. He rubbed his temples, frustrated.

Pain Split took the pain of both Pokémon and ‘equalized’ it between the two of them. Given that Misdreavus was in perfect health, Dusclops was healing its injuries by transferring them to her.

“Return,” Sam said.

While he desperately wanted to win this, he also recognized that there was no point in leaving Misdreavus out. Pressure meant she was already exhausted, and while the equalizing effect of Pain Split meant it could never faint her, it could still prime her to be knocked out with only a single further blow.

“Primeape!” Sam yelled.

Like Quilava, the angry Fighting Type hit the field running. Primeape didn’t bother to listen to Sam’s command—he had likely been paying attention from inside his Pokéball and wanted to show off what he could do.

Too angry to be stopped by Dusclops’s Pressure, Primeape bounded forward, hand over foot, to reach where Dusclops stood. Along the way, the Ghost Type’s eye flashed blue, but nothing came of it. Primeape was able to land a single, solid Ice Punch to the middle of Dusclops’s face.

“There you go! Try for a Fire Punch next! See if you can burn it!” Sam yelled.

The impact of the Ice Punch didn’t send Dusclops flying away, but the Pokémon was still pushed an inch back along the ground. It wasn’t that Dusclops moved, it was that the dirt itself couldn’t resist the force of the punch.

It was still something, and Primeape’s eyes twitched upwards to hint at a bloodthirsty smirk. With Dusclops making no moves to defend itself, Primeape unleashed attacks to furiously wail on his foe.

“Mix it up! Swap between Ice Punch and Fire Punch!” Sam yelled.

Primeape couldn’t maintain both at once, but each fist flashed between the appropriate Type of energy. Steam entered the air above them. Sam hoped that these attacks could inflict some kind of status condition, or that the rapid temperature change would help to wear down Primeape’s opponent.

With every punch, Dusclops took the attack, but at several points, it was like the impact never happened. Sometimes Primeape’s punches would deal damage, and sometimes they wouldn’t.

It knows Protect, doesn’t it?

The occasional lack of effect told Sam he was right.

Getting annoyed at the lack of anything, really, Primeape paused to glare at the Ghost Type. Both he and Sam noticed something about Dusclops’s body.

Embers lingered at the edges of several bandages on its chest.

Fire Punch had somehow managed to inflict a burn, and Primeape was ready to finish the battle. He drew back an arm, gloved hand turning Dark for an Assurance that’d take advantage of the lingering status effect.

Except, the punch was never thrown. Dusclops’s eye flashed for a sudden Pain Split, and out of nowhere, a blue flash of light suddenly slammed Primeape into the ground.

“...And what was that, Sam?” Redi asked.

For some reason, she sounded tired.

“Future Sight.” Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s why Dusclops’s eye flashed blue at the start.”

Primeape wasn’t fainted, but he was struggling to push himself up. Dusclops wasn't the strongest attacker around, so the super-effective Future Sight meant Primeape was like Misdreavus—a light breeze away from fainting.

Sam returned him, stewing where he stood. On his team, there was only a single Pokémon yet to battle, but he hesitated instead of immediately grabbing the Pokéball.

I doubt Hypnosis will work. I’m pretty sure Dusclops can learn Disable.

He was about to call it here until he remembered something important—embers were actively flaking off of Dusclops’s body.

“Tibia! Fibula!” Sam shouted.

One Pokémon left Sam’s shadow and the other pulled out from under Redi’s bench. Two Ghost Types looked at Sam curiously. He glanced between them to make sure they were able to act.

“Are we being watched?” he asked.

Both of them faded away before reappearing a second later. They shook their heads in unison.

“Good,” Sam replied. “So anyone who might have been watching is asleep. We’re safe.”

Grinning, Sam tossed Haunter’s Pokéball high into the air and gave the first command he truly felt confident about.

“Hex!”

Haunter didn’t hesitate. The second he emerged, he cackled, finally having the chance to use this move against such a powerful foe.

From around Haunter, deep purple flames spiraled out, forming a twister in the air around him. They left his body to float upwards before stabbing down at Dusclops like needles aimed at its skin.

Dusclops didn’t use an attack, and it didn’t use Protect. At every point in which the burn ate at it, the flames of Hex merged with them and turned horrifyingly caustic. A concoction of both flame and darkness seeped into Dusclops’s body. Hex was weaker than Shadow Ball in its base form, but when attacking a Pokémon subjected to a status condition, it dealt damage with twice the effectiveness.

For once, for once, Sam saw an actual reaction.

Dusclops took a step back from the pain, and it furrowed its single eye.

Haunter was still cackling. He held up his floating hands, taking a pose that would have worked better with lightning flashing behind him. More darkened fire entered the air, a swarm of Hex’s fire swirling under his control.

Two identical names were whispered as Tibia and Fibula watched in awe. They were unable to look away, completely enraptured by Haunter’s show.

“Keep it up,” Sam said. He was happy to brag for once. He wasn’t worried that Tibia and Fibula would learn about Hex—they weren’t battlers, and they technically belonged to a nurse. As for Dusclops, Morty’s Pokémon already knew about Hex, as that was what let Sam connect to the Gym Leader in the first place.

Except, when the Dusclops began to use a move, Sam realized he had missed something.

Between its Pressure, its defenses, its protective moves, and the reactionary Future Sight, Dusclops had never unleashed a direct attack.

Until now.

Its singular eye locked onto Haunter, inspecting him to prepare. Less than a second later, the wispy strands on Dusclops’s back shot out and stretched towards Haunter like tendrils of sentient fabric.

They grabbed onto him, and his cackles were cut off by a sudden yelp. Haunter was torn out of the air to be pulled towards the ground, brought to be wrapped up right in front of Dusclops.

“It used Foresight to identify him,” Sam groaned, identifying the moves. “And now it’s using Bind.”

Haunter looked like a mummy with how much Dusclops had wrapped him up. Foresight let Normal Type moves like Bind affect Ghost Types, as the move gave its user a way to detect where the targeted Ghost was the most solid.

With Bind, Haunter was trapped, and Dusclops squeezed. This attack combined with Pressure made Haunter cry out his name in pain. Even though Acid Spray might have been able to eat away at the bands, this wasn’t everything Dusclops could do. Even if Haunter could escape, he wouldn’t be able to do so without invoking some other cost.

“We forfeit,” Sam said reluctantly. Dusclops immediately released Haunter to be returned.

While the rest of Sam’s team could still fight, he saw no reason to send them out. Winning wasn’t the point of this spar. It was to test themselves against a stronger Pokémon and see how they all compared.

His thoughts: they had a long way to go.

From off to the side, Redi looked between Sam and Dusclops.

“I’d come over to talk about what just happened, but, y’know,” she said, gesturing to her ankle.

Sam walked over to her. So did Dusclops. As they regrouped, Sam took out a spray to heal Dusclops of both its injuries and burn.

“We can’t even compare to Morty’s personal team,” Sam mumbled. “Everyone I sent out was met with a counter, and Dusclops is only one Pokémon. I can’t imagine all the strategies his other Pokémon have. How many tricks does Morty have? How many different ways can he have his team fight?”

Sam shook his head, pulling back when he was pretty sure Dusclops was healed.

“And even when Dusclops took damage, that was just to set up Pain Split. The only moment of success we had was when we inflicted a status condition. So I guess that might be something to look more into? Trying harder to weaken tougher opponents to bring them down to our level?” he said.

Rubbing her chin, Redi studied the Ghost Type next to them.

“Maybe. If Haunter was prepared for that Bind, I’d say you might have been able to win. Another Hex and you probably could have won, but you weren’t bothering to dodge in this fight, were you Dusclops?” she asked.

It shook its head, an almost humorous motion given that it had to twist its body around. Now that the match was over, it was back to how it behaved at the start, looking as mundane as ever.

But behind that mundanity, there was power. And knowing what lurked underneath its goofy appearance made Dusclops that much more intimidating.

“If I had to describe your strategy...” Sam said slowly, looking the Pokémon up and down. “With your low stamina, one Pain Split can bring you to near-full, and then you could re-use the move again and again whenever you’re hit. Even if you’re wounded, you can turn around any battle thanks to that one move. That’s the basis of all of your strategies, isn’t it? When Morty fights, you’re constantly bouncing between wounded and full health, right?”

The Pokémon nodded its head, and Redi let out a snort.

“Yeah, okay. Then I got nothing. I was gonna say that we could probably bum-rush it and try to overwhelm it even through Pain Split, but it’s probably prepared for that. Maybe if Ursaring knew Shadow Claw, we’d have a chance, but he doesn’t know it.” She paused. “What if Porygon used a slow build-up of Charge Beam from range?”

“Disable,” Sam pointed out.

“Great,” she grumbled. “Yeah, that wouldn’t work. We need Ghost Type moves. You’ve been holding back on us, Sam.”

He winced at being called out. It’d been a while and he still hadn’t helped her team learn those new moves.

“A lot has been going on recently,” he mumbled.

“Not anymore. We’re stuck here.”

Redi sent him a pointed stare.

Sam looked down at the Dusclops, and it looked back up at him.

He knew they could gain a lot from throwing themselves at it, but the main reason Dusclops was here was to protect the Pokémon Center. While it would help them train, they couldn’t risk making it too injured.

There was that, and there was that strength wasn’t what they needed to gain. A good strategy could make all the difference in the world, and Sam needed to figure something out if he wanted them to make any headway against Petrel.

Dusclops was a sparring partner at most, and Sam went through the possibilities in his head.

Sure, it could help with teaching Ghost Type moves, but there was something else it possessed that they could use to improve.

“Ever heard of training weights?” Sam asked Redi.

“...I’m the one who told you about them in the first place,” she flatly replied.

Training weights were held items that slowed a Pokémon but encouraged certain forms of growth—usually coming in the form of a Macho Brace or a Power Item. Sam and Redi never bothered with them due to how expensive they were, and the actual benefits of them varied from species to species and individual to individual.

For the average trainer, they simply weren’t worth the investment.

“I’m thinking... I can use Dusclops to test out new strategies,” Sam said. “And it wouldn’t be too difficult for you to occasionally spar against us and try to dismantle any new ideas we send your way, yeah?”

The Pokémon nodded.

“I see. Thank you. So then...” He paused to weigh the idea a bit more. It felt a little ridiculous. “What if, between those moments, you put your Pressure on our Pokémon?”

“As a training weight?” Redi interjected.

“Exactly! We aren’t catching up to Petrel’s strength anytime soon, but we can potentially bridge that gap with skill. He isn’t training. Morty’s going to force him to be on the run. Using Pressure as a training weight means our Pokémon would need to learn to use moves with greater control and efficiency. So, if we try to build up that habit...”

“I like that idea,” Redi said, exposing her teeth in a smile.

Happy with his plan, Sam faced Dusclops once more.

“What do you say? Are you willing to help us with that?”

When it silently agreed, Sam couldn’t help but to grin.