Chapter 62 I Am an NPC and Cannot Be Tamed

After unleashing a powerful discharge, Zapdos was momentarily stunned and entered a cooldown state. Coupled with the ultra-close distance right in front of Gengar, it had no way to dodge, its large eyes wide with shock.

It never expected that Gengar still had such a trick up its sleeve.

The energy Gengar had previously consumed for its Thunder Punch was merely a tiny flicker of flame, with the sole purpose of attracting the surrounding myriad bolts of lightning to its body; in reality, it hadn't expended much energy at all.

"Use Ice Punch!"

"Gengar!"

With a piercing chill, Gengar threw a punch, slamming heavily into Zapdos's chest. The formidable force followed by the sweeping frost caused Zapdos, caught completely off-guard, to emit a mournful cry mid-air.

"Boom!"

Zapdos was sent flying backwards like a cannonball!

The lofty legendary bird was thus hammered right out of the sky by Gengar, crashing heavily into a corner of the Kanto Power Plant. A massive cloud of dust billowed into the air, and numerous surrounding machines shattered and exploded as a result. Smokescreen and dark mists filled the entire venue amidst a series of rumbling explosions.

Brock and Misty were both frightened silly by this scene.

At most, they had imagined that Ash might be able to last a few rounds against Zapdos, but they had never dreamed that he could actually knock Zapdos tumbling down directly!

Seeing that Ash himself was frightened into a daze, Misty hurriedly shouted:

"Don't just stand there stunned, throw your Poké Ball!"

"Right, right! Quickly have your Gengar follow up with Mean Look, and then have your Bulbasaur unleash the combo package of Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore!"

Brock chimed in, offering his expert advice.

If Ash could really capture Zapdos today, he would undoubtedly make tomorrow's Vermilion City headlines and secure a spot in this year's top ten most promising rookie rankings!

As his mentor, he might even be able to get his own name attached at the bottom!

How wonderful would that be!

"Ah, oh, are we capturing it now...?"

Ash snapped back to his senses and instinctively reached for a Poké Ball.

To be honest, though, he was somewhat hesitant about whether he should capture Zapdos.

However, the next second, a hurricane surged into the sky from the center of the dust and smoke, blowing away the lingering debris. The yellow legendary bird of lightning once again broke through the dust and took flight into the sky.

Its thunder-god-like face showed a slight change in expression, but it was nothing major.

Legendary Pokémon might lack certain other abilities, but their stamina was definitely maxed out. A single Ice Punch was simply not enough to knock it out.

A lump of ice was still frozen to its chest, but with a flap of its wings, a scorching heat wave swept out, effortlessly melting the ice block.

"Gengar, gengar!"

Seeing this, Gengar changed its posture once more, chill gathering on both of its fists.

If one Ice Punch didn't do the trick, then it would just hand out a few more.

Today, it was determined to hammer this ruffled bird until it stayed down!

This Gengar had always been exceptionally combative!

Yet, just as it was about charge forward, Zapdos abruptly beat its wings and let out a piercing cry. The shrill shriek and overwhelming aura forcefully stopped Gengar right in its tracks, leaving it in a rather awkward position.

"Chip-chip!"

Although it hadn't reached the point of communicating telepathically with humans, this single cry instantly made the trio understand its intent.

We're not fighting anymore, the battle is over, I acknowledge you.

In other words:

I am an NPC now. Unless I choose to follow you of my own accord, you cannot capture me.

The trio: "..."

The attitude was quite overbearing.

Seeing this, Ash below could only let out a helpless, bitter laugh and put the Poké Ball away. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Pikachu, who was hugging a luxury golden Poké Ball and secretly slacking off beside his foot.

Never mind. He already had one thunder god anyway, so capturing Zapdos would just be redundant.

Perhaps he could catch the god of fire or the god of water if he encountered them later.

Besides, keeping a Pokémon that looked like Gary around made him worried he would have nightmares at night.

"Chip-chip!"

Zapdos cried out once more and flicked its spiky wings, suddenly tossing out a green stone.

Ash reacted with lightning speed, quickly reaching out and nimbly catching the stone in his palm.

What a reckless bird!

Ash cursed inwardly. At that velocity, anyone else would probably have been crushed to death by the stone by now.

He opened his palm and looked closely. It was a translucent green stone with a lightning bolt symbol hidden inside, and a faint tingling sensation of numbness lingered where it touched his palm.

"This is a Thunder Stone, right?" Misty reminded him.

"A Thunder Stone? Is it an item that can boost the combat power of Electric-type Pokémon?"

Ash nodded. Even if he couldn't capture the Pokémon after clearing the dungeon, there still had to be loot. That was only fair.

Without a second thought, he tossed it to Pikachu nearby.

"Here's a Thunder Stone, take it and play."

Pikachu: "?"

It panicked and took several steps back, the fur all over its body standing on end.

Damn it!

"What's wrong, Pikachu? Do you want to play dodgeball with me?"

Ash picked up the Thunder Stone looking bewildered, weighing it slightly in his palm.

Normally, Pikachu also liked to play the stone-throwing game with him, where Ash threw a stone and the latter batted it away with its Iron Tail.

Thinking of this, Ash smiled gently, putting a bit of muscle into his arm as he hurled the Thunder Stone forward with a fierce throw. It shot out like a cannonball, creating layers of sonic boom shockwaves in the air.

Pikachu: "!!!"

Danger!

It hurriedly used Quick Attack to evade. The Thunder Stone brushed right past its body, moving so fast that it even smashed a small dent into a machine behind it.

"Pika-pika-pika-pika!!"

Afterward, Pikachu began to frantically scold him, jumping up and down in agitation.

It was fine for now, but it truly feared that one day while it was sleeping, Ash would sneakily press the Thunder Stone against its forehead, and when it woke up, it would suddenly turn into an overweight African electric mouse with ten extra pounds of body weight.

Ash: "?"

He scratched his head. Why was Pikachu acting so irritable even after slacking off today?

Shouldn't it feel ashamed?

Brock and Misty: "..."

They felt it was necessary to have a serious talk with Ash. The mere thought of a chubby Raichu standing on his shoulder trying to act cute was a scene too terrifying to imagine.

"Um, Ash, actually the Thunder Stone is Pikachu's evolution item. It evolves the moment it touches it."

Ash scratched his head in confusion and said, "That's not right. I remember the Pokédex clearly stated it was an Electric Enhancer, didn't it?"

The Pokédex seemed to have recognized a keyword and automatically broadcasted:

"Beep. Pikachu's evolution item: It has always been the Thunder Stone."

Ash: "?"

Was his memory starting to fade?

...

"Chip-chip!"

Zapdos in the sky let out another loud cry, signaling that the dungeon raid was over and they could leave immediately.

As a proud legendary Pokémon, it had to keep flying in the sky until the humans departed.

Although this was exhausting, a legendary Pokémon that couldn't fly was simply too humiliating.

Ash put away the Thunder Stone, and Gengar, which had been floating mid-air, slowly descended.

Its chubby body landed on the ground. It first glanced at Ash, but quickly turned its back to him, holding its two little chubby hands in front of its chest, its purple-black face involuntarily blushing.

"Gengar, you did a great job!"

Ash flashed a wide smile and used his silver tongue:

"I don't expect you to acknowledge me right away, but I'll always stand behind you and support you! You're my friend!"

Gengar's old face immediately flushed red. Finally, it turned around bashfully and raised its two little chubby hands.

"Gengar-gengar-gengar (If you can find me a female Gengar, I'll acknowledge you)..."

It held up one finger with its left hand, while the index and middle fingers of its right hand formed a circle, looking intently at Ash.

Seeing this, Brock's eyes flashed with a wise gleam as he tentatively guessed:

"This seems to be some kind of dark slang among a special group of people. It means: I'm a top, looking for a bottom."

Misty asked in confusion, "What special group?"

Brock's dark face instantly blushed crimson. He hurriedly shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand either and had just blurted it out.

Damn it!

If he actually explained it, wouldn't that mean he belonged to that special group himself?!

"What are you guys talking about? Gengar and I share a bond, I can understand everything!"

Ash hurriedly interrupted the two of them, looking intently at the blushing, bashful Gengar, and said with a confident smile:

"You want a new vacuum cleaner for your new lair, right!"

Gengar: "?"

Ash slammed a hand against his chest and declared in a low voice:

"I promise you, the moment we reach the next town, I'll buy you a brand new HW vacuum cleaner. This is the promise of a Pokémon Master!"

After saying this, Ash felt an itch in his mouth, feeling that these words rolled off his tongue a little too naturally, as if he had said the exact same thing to someone else before.

"Who was it?"

Then he smiled.

He couldn't remember, so it didn't matter anymore.