Pokémon: Above the Top-Chapter 275: Mismagius’s Illusion

Sharpedo leapt and carried Sato onto the ship, landing lightly on the long-decayed deck. Sato was genuinely worried that a misstep might send him falling through.

Creak Creak Creak!

With every step Sato took, the deck let out an unpleasant scraping sound. In the quiet of this ghost ship, it sounded especially jarring.

But with skill comes courage. Sato wasn't worried in the slightest about alerting anything. He tapped the ground lightly with his foot, and Gengar soon floated out.

"Let's make this quick. They're still waiting for us."

"Gengar!"

Even usually calm Gengar seemed slightly excited. After nodding at Sato, it hopped off toward the ship's cabin.

Gengar could constantly feel something calling to it from within, so this time they decided to go straight in and follow the "voice".

Sato followed closely behind, and the helpless Ralts, bound to the Dark Energy, had no choice but to trail miserably in the rear. Sato didn't care about it anyway, so it could only rely on itself.

With Dark Energy covering his eyes, Sato didn't need any light source and could still clearly see the inside of the cabin.

Gengar and Ralts each had their own methods, so the trainer and his two Pokémon melted into the darkness but moved without any hindrance.

"Gengar, front right!"

"Geng!"

The coordination between trainer and Pokémon was flawless. Before Sato finished speaking, a Shadow Ball had already been launched toward the front-right.

Boom Boom!

Two explosions rang out. The Shadow Ball had directly struck two Shuppet lying in ambush.

Sato and Gengar didn't even glance at them before continuing forward.

Behind them, Ralts tsk, surprised by the synergy between Sato and Gengar.

From then on, Sato gave the commands, and Gengar launched the attacks. Thanks to the Dark Energy, Sato could clearly detect every ambush ahead of time.

And this was truly a ghost ship, there were indeed many Ghost-type Pokémon. Almost every twenty or thirty meters, one or two would pop out to launch a sneak attack.

Gengar's Special Attack was formidable. With type advantage on its side, Shadow Ball became a deadly missile.

Watching itself mow down enemies like nothing, Gengar suddenly felt a certain thrill...

There was no enemy a single Shadow Ball couldn't handle. If there was, then two!

It was getting cocky. Having not fought properly in a long while, Gengar was starting to get overconfident!

But at least the top layer near the deck truly wasn't challenging. Gengar knocked out every opponent with ease.

They arrived at a broken opening; this was the only path Gengar had found leading to the lower level.

Continuing downward, the pattern stayed the same: Sato gave early warnings, and Gengar unleashed unrestrained attacks to take down opponents.

Ghost-types were supposed to be troublesome, but without their stealth abilities, their crystal defenses meant they were easily crushed by high-level Pokémon of the same type.

Even when those Pokémon tried to use some tricky Ghost-type moves against Sato and Ralts, unfortunately for them, Dark Energy was especially suppressive in this regard.

Most of their abilities didn't work at all!

As Sato and Gengar continued pushing downward, intense battles also broke out deeper within the ship.

Gengar, Banette, Mismagius, Dusknoir... an entire group of fully evolved Ghost-type Pokémon had all gathered in a not-so-large room.

On one wall of the room hung a painting of a delicate young girl, quietly resting there as if it hadn't been touched for a very, very long time.

These Ghost-type Pokémon didn't hide or flee. They fought each other right there in the room, holding nothing back.

All around the room, heavily injured Ghost-type Pokémon lay on the floor, barely clinging to life. In some spots, only wisps of black smoke remained, slowly dissipating into the air.

Most Ghost-type Pokémon leave no corpses upon death. Just a faint breath that eventually drifts away with the wind.

Yet none of the Ghost-type Pokémon seemed to notice that in the painting on the wall, the girl's eyes appeared to glisten with tears.

Back on Sato's side, Gengar finally encountered a "worthy" opponent within the ghost ship.

Right in front of Gengar appeared a burly Salamence, roaring at it with its massive maw wide open.

"Salam!"

Salamence howled skyward, flicked its head, and suddenly unleashed a terrifying Flamethrower straight at Gengar.

Gengar was shocked. What was a Salamence doing in a ghost ship... and such a strong one at that?

On instinct, Gengar rushed in front of Sato, ready to raise Protect and shield him.

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball directly!"

"Gengar... Gen-Gar!"

Upon hearing Sato's command, Gengar gritted its teeth and unleashed its strongest Shadow Ball without reservation, launching it straight at Flamethrower.

Sato calmly watched the Flamethrower surge toward them. Even Ralts beside him didn't seem scared, in fact, it curled its lips slightly, as if it had noticed something interesting.

A miraculous scene unfolded. The Shadow Ball passed directly through the Flamethrower and slammed hard into Salamence.

Yet the Flamethrower still came crashing forward. In Gengar's stunned gaze, the searing flames swept through them.

No pain?

"It's an illusion, Gengar. Shadow Ball, front right!" Sato shook his head. He hadn't expected Gengar to be fooled by a Ghost-type illusion.

But this illusion of Salamence was far too realistic.

From its appearance, roar, gaze, attack posture -even the innate Dragon-type intimidation- there wasn't a single flaw.

If Sato hadn't discovered the Mismagius hiding nearby early on, even he might have believed in this absurd possibility.

A Salamence appearing on a ghost ship?

The Shadow Ball struck its target, and Mismagius could no longer maintain its invisibility. It let out a sharp cry and tried to flee into the distance. Meanwhile, the roaring Salamence vanished without a trace.

"Gen...!"

Gengar, a little embarrassed, immediately fired off two more Shadow Balls, knocking Mismagius to the ground.

After a moment of thought, Sato threw a Poké Ball at Mismagius. Its skillul illusions had piqued his interest.

Gengar didn't object. If Mismagius could fool even him, it had some real talent.

Besides, Sato only had Gengar as his Ghost-type partner. The idea of having a fellow Ghost-type around made Gengar feel quietly expectant.

Pop!

The Poké Ball burst open. Mismagius glared fiercely at Sato, then staggered away in retreat.

Whish!

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Another Poké Ball flew from Sato's hand, but it burst open again shortly after.

This time, Mismagius stopped running. It just stood there coldly, staring at Sato, its expression defiant and unyielding.

"...Gengar, Shadow Ball." Sato paused for a moment, then spoke plainly.

Gengar's eyes darkened, but without hesitation, it launched a Shadow Ball and knocked Mismagius out cold.