Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom (200 - 398)

Chapter 210: The Evolution of Gastly

After absorbing all the toxic gas, Gastly's data, according to the system's scan, abruptly stopped. Then, as if there was a pause, it suddenly spiked to its peak.

To Cain and his other Pokémon, Gastly, who was wrapped in a dark glow, began to gradually change its shape.

Finally, the light of evolution appeared over Gastly. After defeating six Gyarados and absorbing most of the toxic gas from a quasi-elite-level Weezing, Gastly was finally evolving.

Gastly's body, bathed in the light of evolution, began to transform. From being a floating sphere, some spikes that resembled horns started to appear, and two hands with three claws each suddenly emerged in front of the sphere.

These two claws had no physical connection to the main body, as if they had appeared out of nowhere. Then, its entire body began to grow. From a small sphere, Gastly swelled like a balloon, increasing in size.

When the light of evolution faded, a Haunter was fully revealed before Cain.

"Ke-ke!" Haunter let out a faint sound, observing his new body and newly acquired hands, trying to adapt to his new form.

"Gastly... no, Haunter, congratulations. Today you've taken a big step forward in your power." Cain, looking at the Haunter in front of him, felt extremely happy and smiled widely.

Although Haunter was not much different in size from other Haunters, his color was noticeably more purple than usual, indicating that his poison type had developed effectively.

Haunter was Cain's first Pokémon to evolve, and the other Pokémon, who had been watching attentively, looked at him with great envy.

Evolution has always been a longed-for goal for Pokémon. Seeing one of their companions evolve first, they couldn't help but feel a deep envy.

Especially Skorupi, whose eyes sparkled intensely, almost with little stars reflected in them.

Haunter's evolution was also a validation of Cain's progress as a trainer.

Although his strength had already far surpassed that of a beginner-level League trainer, he was still a bit away from being an intermediate-level trainer. However, with Haunter's evolution, Cain was one step closer to that goal.

It could be said that Cain was now at the potential level of an intermediate trainer. He only needed Haunter or any of his Pokémon to improve a bit more, and being an intermediate trainer would be within reach.

In the Pokémon League, an intermediate-level trainer is equivalent to a captain in Team Rocket, while an advanced trainer is comparable to an Officer in the organization.

However, the Officer position in Team Rocket encompasses a wide range of abilities, meaning that, generally speaking, a regular Officer is comparable to an advanced League trainer, while Senior Officers are comparable to quasi-elite League trainers.

When a quasi-elite-level trainer advances a bit more in their power, they reach the level of an elite-level trainer.

Generally, an elite-level trainer in Team Rocket holds the position of Elite Officer, a rank between Senior Officer and Executive, with much greater authority than that of a regular Senior Officer.

In summary, in Team Rocket, when a member becomes an Officer, they truly reach middle management within the organization, and when they reach the elite level, they already have one foot in upper management, only a step away from becoming an Executive.

According to Umbra, this final Team Rocket test involved both Officers and Executives. However, regular Officers were not even privy to it. Those Officers who wished to challenge the Executives at least needed to have the power of an elite-level trainer.

Though these individuals held the title of Officer, their power and authority were far greater than those of a regular Officer. That is why only a few had been selected for the test, as their level of power and authority far exceeded the others. They could be considered Elite Officers.

Currently, Cain held the rank of captain, although his power already exceeded this rank. However, he was still a bit below the Officer level. He was confident that before the final test began, he could reach that level of power.

Of course, reaching the power of an Officer does not automatically grant the corresponding position and authority. One needs at least the recognition of a middle management member and to pass a test to obtain the title. At that point, one could command at least three squads.

However, if a high-ranking figure in Team Rocket, such as Umbra, intervened, some procedures, like the test, could be skipped.

Returning to the topic, now that Haunter had successfully evolved, Cain, through the system, was able to obtain his data. There was only one detail that surprised Cain.

Pokémon: Haunter (Quasi Light Blue)

Gender: Male

Level: 25

Type: Ghost + Poison

Ability: Levitate

Held Item: None

Egg Moves: Fire Punch, Scary Face, Haze

Basic Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Spite, Mean Look, Curse, Night Shade, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch

Learned Moves: Rest, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Skill Swap, Snore

TM Moves: Protect, Hidden Power (Grass), Sleep Talk

There weren't many significant changes, but what surprised Cain was the appearance of a new color classification, "Quasi Light Blue." In his previous life, Cain had never seen or heard of a Pokémon with a "Quasi Light Blue" classification.

"System, what does this 'Quasi Light Blue' mean?" Cain asked the system directly.

"Since Haunter originally had a dark green classification, but by absorbing a large amount of extremely potent toxic gas, his poison-type talent increased considerably."

"However, this improvement still hasn't reached the level to break the dark green classification, so the system has temporarily classified it as 'Quasi Light Blue,'" the system responded in its mechanical voice.

Quasi Light Blue?

Due to the large increase in his poison-type talent, but without yet reaching the full Light Blue classification, the system temporarily classified him as "Quasi Light Blue."

In any case, even if it's "Quasi Light Blue," he's still at the Blue level. Haunter's evolution not only brought an increase in his power, but his classification change also significantly contributed to his growth.

This was something Cain hadn't expected. Although he noticed an increase in Gastly's leveling speed while using the toxic gas, he never imagined that using it during evolution would improve his classification in this way.

Cain began considering whether, in the future, he should use items with special energies during the evolutions of all his Pokémon to improve their classification and optimize their potential.

This could be an interesting possibility to explore.

(End of chapter)