The Ghost Specialist

The blue light of the encapsulating Trick Room didn’t quite reach the field. The glow of its plaid-like tiles waxed and waned in a mesmerizing pattern. Both Will and Sam were inside the bounds of the surrounding box, but when Sam brought up his hand, he had no trouble moving it, and the Trick Room inflicted no obvious glow, either.

However, when he tried to snap his fingers, he could see the motion come in slow motion, as it took a full second for his index finger to reach his palm. It felt like he was trying to force his way through molasses, but that feeling faded when the motion ended, his fingers returning to a normal speed.

“Interesting,” Will commented, watching Sam’s test. “Have you figured out Trick Room’s effects this quickly? Or, perhaps you were already aware of the move before our demonstration?”

Will pressed a hand to the side of his face, staring at Sam’s open palm. Sam quickly clenched his fist, feeling the resistance in the air, and turned back to the field where Misdreavus stared at Jynx, a layer of frost coating half of her face.

The Ice Beam had only been a glancing blow, yet its ice had already crept that far across Misdreavus’s body.

“Ice Punch,” Will ordered.

As the command echoed out, Misdreavus’s eyes widened, and she tried to move back. She wasn’t the fastest of Pokémon—her speed came from her frequent and easy use of Shadow Sneak. When she moved now, her sudden jerk caused her to fall into an uncontrolled spin. The unexpected speed interfered with her movements, but Jynx had no problem taking a single, confident step forward.

The Ice Type lurched across the field.

“Speed is inverted!” Sam yelled. “Fast things move slow! Slow things move fast!”

Sam’s head hurt from watching Jynx. She moved forward as if on a casual walk, yet she slid across the ground as if dashing at a breakneck pace. The disconnect between her actions and their outcome was disconcerting—something was wrong with reality.

That was the “trick” of Trick Room. The effects of speed changed. The Psychic Type was all about manipulating reality, and this effect did so on a grand scale.

A single, light hop sent Jynx far into the air, and the Pokémon rocketed straight toward Misdreavus. Misdreavus tried to pull away, but even if she was generally slower than Jynx, her movement under these conditions was unpracticed.

It was through sheer chance alone that her jerk backward meant Jynx’s Ice Punch swiped through the air, an inch away from Misdreavus’s face.

“Return!” Sam shouted.

He could feel the resistance as he yanked up Misdreavus’s Pokéball. Thankfully, he called her back before any further moves could be exchanged.

With Misdreavus’s disappearance, Jynx gracefully landed on the ground. Her dress fluttered beneath her, and she looked at Sam and huffed.

“It’s quite an interesting move,” Will said to Sam. “Surprisingly, Trick Room isn't the only one of its kind, either. I’ve heard stories of a ‘Wonder Room’ being set up within Hoenn’s Mossdeep Gym. In that very same region, a man simply referred to as the ‘Trick Master’ has utilized another referred to as a ‘Magic Room.’ And, in Alola, I believe they are quite familiar with a field effect named Psychic Terrain. Alas, I have yet to see any of those moves for myself.”

Will smiled at the end of his statement, his eyes flicking to the Pokéballs on Sam’s belt.

“But your shout was correct; Trick Room inverts the effects of speed,” he continued. “So what will you do now? I’ll warn you that it goes further than just speed—you’ll find that its conditions are difficult enough that your Pokémon’s base actions might fail.”

Sam grit his teeth. He knew he was facing an uphill battle, but he hadn’t expected something like this.

Really, he was grateful to Redi that he was able to recognize this much in the first place. He only remembered the effects of Trick Room thanks to the conversation they had in Goldenrod. Ursaring wasn’t a fast species in most situations, but she planned for Porygon to eventually pick up the move to turn him into a greater threat.

He just didn’t think he’d ever see it used before she figured it out.

So then how are we supposed to deal with this?

He had his strategy, but he wasn’t sure how inflicting conditions might help him deal with a modification to reality itself. Still, his team hadn’t been slacking off in their training. Along with the usual growth, all of his Pokémon had picked up new moves. He could try to take advantage of the change in speed—something he doubted would work given Will’s familiarity with the move—or he could try a combination involving one of those new moves.

As it stood, it was the best answer he got.

“Come out, Quilava! Go for Curse—there’s a Trick Room up!”

His starter and closest friend appeared on the field. The flames on her back blazed to life, almost immediately tinting purple. It took little effort for her to channel the energy needed for Curse, but she stumbled.

Curse lowered her speed. She hadn’t expected her concentration would allow her to move faster.

“Speed is inverted,” Sam explained quickly. “You’ll want to build Curse up so you can move at normal—”

“Ice Beam,” Will interrupted.

Quilava awkwardly dodged to the side, going further than she expected but still avoiding the attack. Jynx maintained a sphere of icy energy between her hands, and she released a second one that Quilava was only able to avoid thanks to a reflexive use of Detect.

“It might be acceptable to do such a thing at lower tiers of play, but you should know better than to lecture your Pokémon while a battle is in progress,” Will quipped.

Despite talking, his Pokémon didn’t stop to listen to him. That blue sphere remained, and Jynx never let up her sky-colored lightning that threatened to freeze Quilava where she stood.

But with the movement-restricting effects of Curse inverted, Sam hoped Quilava could use that speed to succeed with a new move.

“Double Team!” he shouted.

Double Team generally required a Pokémon to move fast enough to leave illusory duplicates behind. On paper, Trick Room would prevent that, but the boost from Curse and the Normal Type energy contained within would hopefully let Quilava push past that.

I think we might be able to use ‘priority’ moves like Quick Attack or Shadow Sneak, too. A Pokémon move is fueled by energy which should let them brute force Trick Room’s effects.

Quilava tried to follow Sam’s orders, but Will’s earlier words proved prophetic. She attempted a sharp hop to the side, infusing her movement with the appropriate amount of Normal Type energy, but Double Team was still a work in progress. She wasn’t able to find the right pace, especially under these conditions.

“Quick Attack!” Sam yelled instead, seeing the glow between Jynx’s hands light up once more.

Quilava’s base action might have failed, but Quick Attack allowed her to briefly run forward as if the Trick Room wasn’t there.

I was right. Quick Attack does work, but it takes more out of her.

“Freeze her. Powder Snow,” Will said.

“Go for your Swift combo!”

Quilava used Quick Attack one more time to reposition herself without resistance. She stumbled a bit when the move wore off, but Curse was still in effect. It gave her just enough control to leap into the air and spin, shining stars coming out and homing toward Jynx.

They were slow.

Quilava might have used Swift, but Swift came out at a walking pace. The Will-O-Wisp she tried to hide behind it usually trailed the homing stars, but it instead sped up and collided with that guiding move.

The combination utterly failed, eliminating itself, and Quilava’s expression fell.

She landed on the ground, stumbled from the unfamiliar speed yet again, and Jynx dropped her sphere to send out a wave of freezing snow that coated Quilava’s side.

“Hm.” Will tapped his cheek. “Let’s move on to the next Pokémon. Jynx, finish her with Psychic.”

Before Quilava could do anything else, Jynx brought a hand into the air, holding it open-palmed like a direction provided by a conductor. Shivering, Quilava was plucked off the ground, surrounded by a blue glow and summarily squeezed tight.

Sam could tell Quilava was about to faint, and Quilava could tell as well. Stuck in Jynx’s constricting Psychic, he couldn’t exactly return her while an attacking move was in effect, so he instead called out a command to have her succeed with something and set up for the next Pokémon on her team.

“Smoke Screen!”

She coughed, using how her body was being squeezed to support this move. The cough that came out was weak with hardly any force behind it, but the inverting effects of Trick Room allowed her attack to sail over a dramatic distance.

A dark, inky sphere hit the ground next to Jynx and burst like a bomb. Smoke Screen sent acrid smoke in every direction, covering that side of the field and blocking Jynx’s vision.

Quilava was then unceremoniously slammed into the ground. Sam returned his Pokémon and held her ball in front of him.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “This should be enough for Haunter.”

He grabbed for Haunter’s Pokéball, controlling his speed to reach down slowly, which in turn made him move fast.

My head hurts.

Tossing the ball forward, the moment Haunter appeared, the tiles of the Trick Room flashed.

Alright. So Jynx just refreshed Trick Room, but if we can put her to sleep...

“Haunter, into the cloud!” Sam yelled.

He didn’t need to specify more than that; Haunter knew the exact role he was sent out for. With the speed-inversing effect active, his movement came out jittery, but he slowed down to speed up to an “acceptable” speed that sent him into the smoke-filled darkness.

Inside, silence lingered as Haunter stalked his opponent. Sam only caught the occasional glimpse of a silhouette within. Haunter couldn’t exactly attack right away—that’d be too obvious—but he needed to find the right angle.

To win this matchup, all it would take is a single Hypnosis, and Haunter could take out Jynx. Dream Eater and Nightmare could do an extreme amount of damage to a sleeping foe, and preventing Jynx from using Trick Room again would mean the effect would wear off and the world would turn back to normal.

“Funny,” Will quipped, “but not enough.”

Sam’s expression fell.

Like Sam, Will didn’t bother to give an explicit command. The smoke in the center of the field was blown back as Jynx released an omnidirectional Powder Snow. The attack’s strong breeze cleared the field, which revealed Haunter in the field’s dead center with her right behind him.

Shocked, he tried to turn around, but he instinctively tried to turn around quickly. Jynx’s flashed blue, a glow surrounding him, and the super effective Psychic saw parts of him crumple.

The difference in power was enough for him to fall to that single attack.

“I’m starting to get disappointed, Sam,” Will said with a sigh. “Redi spoke of you so highly. I imagined your masterful use of conditions would have seen my beautiful Jynx be cut down.”

He then paused, weighing his next words.

“Although, this outcome is reasonable. My Jynx does have her Forewarn ability trained.”

Sam was familiar with the effects of Forewarn. No personal experience, but it was the primary ability of Hypno, and Hypno frequently appeared as the villain in ghost stories online. Primarily, the ability alerted the Pokémon of the first move that’d be used in a match—or at least, one of them. It offered a brief glimpse into the future to warn the Pokémon of what to look out for.

No wonder Jynx was able to avoid Misdreavus’s Confuse Rays so easily. And that’s why she was able to ambush Haunter like that—she was forewarned of his Hypnosis.

The only reason Smoke Screen had ‘worked’ was because Forewarn only worked with a single move at a time. Sam had been so used to facing Pokémon without their abilities trained that he hadn’t pieced together how Jynx avoided his Pokémon’s attacks so well.

Frustrated, he returned Haunter. He was two and a half Pokémon down. Not just that, Will’s Pokémon wasn’t even injured. The fight wasn’t looking good.

What did Will say, again? That his team had been rated at eight stars in the past?

Sam stopped as the thought passed through his head. He narrowed his eyes at the sudden realization.

“So, Will,” Sam called out, speaking casually while palming a Pokéball. “How strong is your team, actually?”

A slight smirk appeared on the Ace Trainer’s face.

“I don’t believe I ever outright said that,” Will replied.

I knew it! He said eight stars in the past! That doesn’t mean Will has an eight-star team right now! He’s way stronger—he’s been leading us on!

“Primeape!” Sam shouted, throwing forward a ball. “Slow walk! Bulk Up! Right into— Ugh, just use Fire Punch!”

The difference in strength wasn’t just large. It was massive. Extraordinary. Sam never had a chance to win in the first place.

But if Sam couldn’t successfully use status to weaken Will’s Pokémon, he could at least test a different strategy on this much stronger opponent.

No more games. Against Will’s Psychic Types, there’s no point in doing something special. Jynx is awful in physical combat. Primeape just needs to get in close, and we can take advantage of that.

Immediately upon appearing on the field, Primeape lumbered forward. He stomped slowly, moving as if trying to merely intimidate, but the presence of the Trick Room saw each step launching him forward.

“Psychic,” Will ordered.

Primeape swung his arms, building himself up with Bulk Up to prevent Forewarn from taking effect. However, just because Forewarn wouldn’t work here didn’t mean Jynx was helpless.

She swiped a hand out, not grabbing Primeape but telekinetically grabbing his leg. The blue glow tripped him, but he didn’t exactly stop.

Surprising everyone—Will, Jynx, and Sam—Primeape used the momentum of his fall to tuck himself into a furious roll.

“Go!” Sam yelled.

Jynx blinked and tried to form an Ice Beam, but Primeape was trying to keep himself slow. He looked like a toddler first learning how to walk, therefore he was moving fast.

I hate this.

His rounded body allowed him to keep that momentum going, and when he got close to Jynx, he was able to carefully outstretch his arm as if grabbing something fragile.

His fist smashed into Jynx’s stomach with an incredible amount of force.

Flames licked at the edge of the point of impact, the Fire Punch leaving a scorch mark on Jynx’s dress. The power contained in the attack was both boosted by Bulk Up and was a super effective, Fire Type move.

Jynx should have been launched back. Instead, the Pokémon bent inwards and started to float through the air in slow motion.

“This is just...”

Sam had no words. Primeape hopped away, bouncing on his feet. It took several seconds for Jynx to land on her back a few feet away.

“Good,” Will said. “Not every technique will be effective against every opponent. When one strategy fails, sometimes it’s better to follow the simple answer of taking advantage of the most obvious weakness.”

“How strong is your team?” Sam asked outright.

Will just smiled. Though the super effective punch would have fainted a weaker Jynx, Will's Pokémon used a Psychic to lift herself to correct her position and gracefully land on her feet.

She hardly looked damaged, and she wiped lingering soot off of her dress.

“Last I checked... Hm.” Will rubbed his chin. “We’d just reached ten stars, I believe.”

“...When did you last check?”

“Right before I met up with you two,” Will said with a smirk.

Jynx disappeared with a flash, being returned to her ball. Will quickly replaced her with his next Pokémon.

Sam was starting to doubt his chances of victory.

This next Pokémon wasn’t one too uncommon on a Psychic Team team, but Sam had never seen one in person before. It resembled a short bush with spiky leaves and two heavy legs that kept it upright. Notably, just under its spiked fronds were three, seed-shaped heads.

Upon being sent out, Will’s Exeggutor passively marched in place.

“Do you wish to continue this battle? Jynx is still able to fight, and with the current state of your team, the outcome is already determined,” Will said.

Sam’s eyes flicked between Will’s Pokémon and Primeape.

“No,” Sam said. “I’m learning a lot.”

There was a power discrepancy here, but that difference in strength just meant he needed to find a way to be more clever.

“Very well,” Will said. “Reflect. Into Barrage.”

Two of Exeggutor’s heads flashed, and the one in the middle cried out its name. A translucent barrier appeared before it right as heavy seeds shot out from its very top.

“Rage!” Sam yelled. “Take it!”

Sam had avoided calling for Rage before now. It was a component of Rage Fist, but Rage was also an attack that saw Primeape be consumed by his anger. They wanted to have him master his emotions rather than have his emotions master him, but Primeape still needed to get a handle on using the anger-based moves if he wanted to figure out Rage Fist in the future.

But it also helped that Rage was the perfect counter to Exeggutor’s attack.

The seeds launched by Barrage arched toward Primeape, and rather than fight against it, he hunkered down and braced himself to take every single one.

Each impact of the heavy seeds was hard enough to leave welts on Primeape’s body. But, bruised and battered, he pushed through. Rage grew in power every time he was struck, and with a multi-hit move like Barrage—

“Psychic.”

Reflect stopped Primeape’s charge. A concussive, telekinetic pulse blasted him back.

The fading yet lingering Trick Room would have made his slow-motion flight over the field comical. Instead, Sam just follows Primeape’s movements, feeling disappointed.

I could have given a different order to get a different outcome.

Sam returned Primeape, as the Fighting Type did not get up. Strapped for options, Sam released Misdreavus.

But he knew the battle was over.

She stalled for time, using Shadow Sneak to wait out the lingering Trick Room and using Nasty Plot when Exeggutor was busy aiming its next attack. When the Trick Room faded, she tried for a Will-O-Wisp, something she was learning with Quilava’s help, but a Seed Bomb passed right through the move to dissipate it, and that attack hit her right in the face.

The battle was over.

“Now then, can you tell me why you think I wanted to have this battle?” Will asked, walking over after returning his Exeggutor.

“You wanted to show me how much farther I have to go,” Sam said. He stared at the Friend Ball containing Misdreavus in his hand.

A single moment passed, and Will laughed. He covered his mouth in an attempt to be polite.

“Oh, no! I can see why you’d think that, but I wanted to have this battle for an entirely different purpose. Mainly, I wished to highlight something about your chosen strategy,” he said.

Will moved to Sam’s side, where he released two Pokémon: his Xatu and his Jynx. The Xatu was already staring up at the sky, and Sam felt an eye twitch as that infuriating Pokémon made a reappearance. Will’s Jynx, however, looked mostly fine. There was a scuff mark on the stomach of her dress, but she didn’t look too hindered by it at all.

Man. Will must have really been holding back.

“Redi has spoken of your chosen strategy, but I’d like to hear your own description,” Will said.

“I have my team apply status conditions to weaken our opponents. We then capitalize on the openings those conditions make to win our fights,” Sam said.

Will nodded along, expecting the answer.

“Redi described a similar idea, but I want to know: do you have anything more than that?”

Sam frowned. Will continued.

“The reason I challenged you to this battle is to elucidate a point I wished to make. I said I would help you out, and this is me applying my experience,” Will said. “You have a solid core strategy, but you need to expand your team’s capabilities. As it stands, you are shut down too easily when a Pokémon is unable to be weakened.”

“So then you chose Jynx here on purpose,” Sam said, considering Will’s words. “Forewarn prevented my Pokémon from inflicting status conditions right away, and then Trick Room ensured that my Pokémon couldn’t go first.”

“Indeed!” Will clapped his hands. “Status conditions are the great equalizers of the world—a burn cuts physical power in half, paralysis devastates speed, poison wears down even the toughest of foes, and sleep can open up even the most evasive of Pokémon to further moves.

“However,” Will continued, “relying on those strategies means you are almost always fighting at an advantage. Even if you face an opponent stronger than you, a single, properly inflicted condition could see them become easy prey. You need more experience fighting at a disadvantage. You need to create strategies for opponents you aren’t able to weaken in the first place.”

Will proceeded to pause.

“Tell me, between these two, which of my Pokémon would be a greater counter to your team?”

Sam glanced at Jynx and almost opened his mouth, but he stopped himself. He’d been studying more than just Ghost Types in the New Pokédex for this very reason.

“Xatu,” Sam said in an answer. “Its ability is Magic Bounce. It would be immune to any of my team’s status moves.”

When Sam looked at Will to check if he was right, he was met with an incredibly sharp gaze. The look was appraising, and Sam paled in realization.

“Magic Bounce? ...No. Xatu has trained both the Early Bird and Synchronize abilities, and he’s capable of using both Psycho Shift and Refresh to cure himself of conditions.”

Sam kept quiet. He’d messed up. He’d really messed up.

Magic Bounce was Xatu’s hidden ability.

Most Pokémon’s base abilities were still being discovered.

Thankfully, Will didn’t comment on that, choosing instead to pace around his team, continuing to lecture. Sam made sure to keep standing tall, pretending he hadn’t revealed any previously unknown information.

“Xatu is an example of a Pokémon that can shut down any condition-based strategy. If I were to send him out against you, you would be forced to defeat him on power alone, lest you find yourself hindering your Pokémon. Meanwhile, Jynx is capable of something similar to a lesser degree, as you’ve seen. I wanted to give you a chance, but a four-star difference is simply too much in most situations.”

“I think I also messed up at the end,” Sam added, looking over Will’s Pokémon. “When you switched to Exeggutor, it didn’t have any defenses against status conditions outside of maybe its screens. I could have switched to Misdreavus and burned it instead of leaving Primeape out. Then, if we stalled and attacked from range, we might have been able to wear it down.”

But I was too focused on using raw force after our small victory against Jynx.

Still, Will smiled when Sam finished his explanation.

“Good. You can’t let yourself get trapped in a singular mindset, either,” he said.

He stopped pacing to stand next to Xatu, returning his Jynx with a simple flick of his wrist. He stared at Sam for several seconds, taking him in, before sending Sam one last nod that spoke of respect.

“Loss is not always loss, as more often than not, it’s also a lesson,” he said. “For now, the only other thing I can say is that you should lean less hard into your desires. You are allowed to want what you want, but you shouldn’t be so harsh on those you think get in your way.”

Sam winced.

Will chuckled and rubbed his Xatu’s head before stepping to the side, standing at attention with his hands behind his back.

“Xatu will return you to Blackthorn, but this shall be my goodbye. I’ve completed my lessons with Redi and have taught her the basis of what she needs to know. She has a plan for your upcoming trials, and her team is quite excellent. You two have great potential. Keep up your hard work, and don’t let it go to waste.”

“Thank you,” Sam said. “For everything.”

He brought himself into a deep bow, and Will laughed.

“No need for that. I’m sure we’ll meet again. You plan to enter this year’s Silver Conference, yes? I may not be entering myself, but I will see you on the stage. I always make sure to watch. You have decent odds of seeing me there.”

Sam brought himself back up and stared at Will. The Ace Trainer was parting sooner than he’d expected, and Sam was genuinely thankful for most of the man’s help.

Although...

He quickly sent a few silent hand signs to his shadow, hiding the motions as he stepped closer to Xatu. Sam paused before touching the Pokémon’s head, not wanting to be teleported away just yet.

“Before I go...” Sam looked toward Will. “Wait! What’s that behind you?”

Will huffed.

“Please. As if I’d fall for such a basic—”

A swipe.

Will gagged and entered a full-body shudder.

While not a direct member of Sam’s team, one of the two Gastly brothers—Sam could no longer tell—swiped a tongue across Will’s back. The Ace Trainer shivered at the spine-chilling residue left behind, and Xatu squawked in alarm as Sam’s shadow vibrated with laughter.

“Oh, why, you—”

“You teleported us to the middle of a freezing cold mountain and forced us to climb up,” Sam said flatly.

Will paused, gathering himself up.

“...I suppose I deserved that, in a way.”

Once Sam and his ghosts finished laughing, he thanked Will one last time before finally being brought away. With just a single teleport, he was successfully returned to Blackthorn City and everything awaiting him there.