From a typing perspective, both Gengar and Dusknoir share the Ghost type, meaning they can hit each other with super-effective moves.
This might surprise some people, after all, shouldn't same-type matchups result in reduced damage?
But Ghost-types, like Dragon-types, are the rare exceptions where same-type attacks actually deal double damage. So, what we're looking at here isn't just a balanced matchup. It's a deadly one.
That said, there was one small catch: unlike Dusknoir, Gengar was also part Poison-type. But since Poison has no real effect on Ghosts, and Gengar didn't use any Poison-type moves anyway, that detail didn't matter much in this fight.
As a Ghost-type specialist, Morty understood all of this clearly. And he knew Kai did too.
So now it came down to a simple question: when it's ace versus ace, whose partner is stronger?
The battlefield was still marked from the last two rounds. Dusknoir floated silently, its glowing red eye locking onto Gengar with eerie focus. Its very presence radiated pressure.
Gengar, on the other hand…
It was casually picking at its ear like it had nothing better to do.
Morty's gaze flicked between Gengar and its Trainer.
Not only was the Pokémon slacking, but its Trainer wasn't even scolding it! Was this guy seriously underestimating him?
Fine then. If he thought this was going to be easy, he had another thing coming.
When the referee gave the signal to begin, Morty acted immediately.
Dusknoir surged forward with a surprise [Shadow Sneak], its form melting into a shadow that stretched across the ground, intent on striking Gengar from behind.
But just as it was about to land the hit—
Gengar turned into a literal lightbulb.
An actual glowing, cartoonish lightbulb.
The shadow was obliterated on the spot.
Morty hadn't even recovered from that when Gengar pulled out a giant pair of noise-canceling headphones, completely neutralizing Dusknoir's [Curse] attempt.
And then, when Dusknoir tried a [Will-O-Wisp], what happened?
Gengar turned into a fire extinguisher.
With a dramatic pffffft, it sprayed down the floating blue flames with white foam, putting them out like they were nothing.
Morty's jaw hit the floor.
"What even IS this battle!?"
He rubbed his eyes. Was this still a Pokémon match or some kind of ghost-themed circus act?
Before he could collect his thoughts, Gengar zipped around, grinning widely and with a blur of tricky moves and bluffs, Dusknoir was overwhelmed and collapsed, KO'd.
Morty stared at the battlefield, completely stunned.
He tried to speak. Failed. Tried again. Still nothing.
The referee raised his flag. "Dusknoir is unable to battle! The winner is Gengar! The challenger has earned victory in this Gym Battle!"
Victorious, Gengar floated back like a smug cartoon villain returning from an over-the-top prank. Kai gave it an exasperated look.
"Seriously? You said you wanted a good battle. I thought you meant, you know, actual moves. Not this."
He couldn't help remembering their first meeting at Maiden Peak. Gengar had used these exact same tricks to beat Ash's Pokémon back then, too.
Gengar laughed. "What? A win's a win. Who says you have to fight by the book? Besides… weren't you entertained?"
Kai gave him a deadpan look.
"Entertained? You turned a Gym Battle into a Saturday morning cartoon. Morty looks like you just rewrote his entire worldview."
Sure enough, the Gym Leader was approaching now, his face a complicated mess of awe, disbelief, and mild existential crisis.
Kai had seen that look many times before.
It always came after someone lost to him.
"I… I lost. Completely and utterly," Morty said at last, then gave a dry laugh. "I've never seen anything like that. Honestly, it opened my eyes."
Kai scratched his head, trying to think of something to say. "To be honest, I didn't expect it to go down like that either."
Morty handed over a badge, glossy indigo in color, shaped like a little ghost.
"This is the Fog Badge. You've earned it."
Kai took it and stored it in his badge case.
That made four out of eight. With half the badges secured, the Silver Conference wasn't far off.
But before he could say anything else, Erika rushed up beside him.
"Hey—look at the time! It's almost 10!"
Kai looked down at his watch—9:57 a.m.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Looks like they were definitely going to be late for a tea party.
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