Arriving at the loarked by the red dot, Julian looked at his Dowsing Mae, then sed the area, his usually calm expression turning a bit bewildered.

  What was going on?

  The Dowsing Mae indicated the treasure was just teimeters away and h, meaning it was supposedly right in front of him.

  But…

  He looked at the empty space before him and then back at the Dowsing Mae. The massive red dot hadn't budged.

  Julian shook the Dowsing Mae and even tapped it a few times.

  "Is this thing broken?" he muttered.

  System: Not broken

  "You're popping up again"

  He grumbled, rolling his eyes.

  The system rarely spoke, only issuing missions. It only seemed to "appear" when he was pining about it.

  Julian trusted the system. If the Dowsing Mae wasn't broken, thereasure must indeed be right in front of him. But why couldn't he see it?

  "A Gengar go invisible…"

  Given that the treasure had been moving, Julian had suspected it might be carried by a Pokémon.

  Now, standing at its location without seeing anything just teimeters away, the most likely sario was that an invisible Pokémon—probably a Gengar—was carrying it, making the treasure invisible too.

  "However..."

  Gng over at Lucario aagross beside him, who were shaking their heads, Julian dismissed his specution.

  Even if a Pokémon could turn invisible, it couldn't hide its Aura. Lucario hadn't sensed any Aura in the area, aagross had sed several times with its psychic powers, finding nothing.

  Julian waved his hand in front of him at the spot teimeters away. His hand passed right through—nothing there.

  He was truly baffled.

  "It moved again!!"

  The red dot on his Dowsing Mae shifted once more, only this time, it wasn't moving away but getting closer—now only about a timeter from his face.

  Julian instinctively took a step back, his face darkening.

  'What the heck? Sure, I know I'm handsome, but if this thing thinks it take advantage of me, see if I don't kill it'

  "e out already!"

  He shouted, swatting at the air in front of him, eling a bit of Aura into his hand in his frustration.

  Then—smack.

  To his surprise, he actually hit something solid.

  And suddenly, a white figure materialized in front of him.

  Julian jolted at the sudden appearance, and Lucario instantly stepped protectively in front of him.

  Metagross and Dragoook fnking positions, gring at the white figure.

  Gastly, the now-visible culprit, looked pitifully at them. It had no ill iions; it was simply curious why this human could detect it, and now it had been spped!

  His three Pokémon were even staring it down fiercely, and it was on the verge of tears.

  "A white Gastly?"

  Julian's mouth opened slightly as he stared at the odd-looking Pokémon, then back at his Dowsing Mae.

  The red dot was indeed marking Gastly.

  Then a realization dawned on him, Julian activated his Probing Eyes to ihe Gastly.

  Pokémon: Gastly (Ghost/Poison)

  Level: 22

  Potential: Purple

  Ability: Levitate

  Held Item: None

  Gender: Male

  Moves: fuse Ray, Lick, Hypnosis, Mean Look, Imprison, Payback, Curse,

  TMs: None

  Geic Moves: Skill S, Dark Pulse, Disable, Perish Song, Peist, Will-O-Wisp

  ---

  A purple-tier Gastly, bearing the qualifications to be a future champion—and it was white!

  "So it was you all along"

  Julian finally uood. The red dot taking up a third of the Dowsing Mae's s wasn't marking a treasure—it was marking this Gastly.

  For the first time, Julian realized that his Dowsing Mae could also detect high-quality Pokémon. He'd entered -tier Pokémon in other secret realms before, yet the Dowsing Mae hadn't registered them.

  Now it seemed clear: the device didn't ighem; rather, -tier Pokémon simply didn't meet its standard.

  Dowsing Mae: My standards are quite high when it es to living things, thank you very much. Proud.jpg

  It seemed likely that only Blue or Purple-tier Pokémon were worthy of appearing on its radar.

  "You're mine now"

  Julian said, looking at the white Gastly with an intense, possessive expression. This guy was absolutely the Ultimate treasure of this advanced secret realm—if not officially, theainly on par with one.

  Gastly, sensing Julian's intense gaze, felt a jolt of fear. Something was definitely wrong with this human, and it o get away.

  Although Julian couldn't detect Gastly's Aura before, once Gastly revealed itself, he could feel its presence clearly. Notig something unusual about its Aura, Julian immediately called out;

  "Metagross, Scary Face!"

  Just as Gastly was about to slip bato invisibility, a huge, intimidating face appeared before it. Even though it was a Ghost-type, Gastly was startled so badly that it fot to hide. The passive invisibility it relied on was instantly disrupted.

  "Use fusion."

  Metagross, knowing that it was about to gain a new panion, applied just the right amount of force with fusion, enough to knock Gastly out without harm.

  Julian tossed a Poké Ball. After a few shakes, the white Gastly was captured without aance.

  Using psychic power, he lifted the Poké Ball in front of him, grinning. He'd been in this realm for less than ten days, and he'd already captured a purple-tier Pokémon.

  Suon were almost unheard of in advanced-level secret realms; they usually only appeared in the highest Top-tier realms.

  After all, advanced-level secret realms maxed out at Elite-level Pokémon, which was -tier potential. It's rare enough to enter a Blue-tier Pokémon, so how could a Purple-tier one possibly appear?

  This Gastly ractically a one-in-a-billion miracle, an instance of a potential leap in quality—and to top it off, it was a shiny.

  Julian released Gastly from its Poké Ball.

  The newly captured Gastly appeared, looking a bit downcast. It uood that it had been caught by this human, and so, even if it wasn't thrilled, it didn't try to leave.

  Of course, if it had tried, Julian wouldn't have just let it go.

  Letting a purple-tier Pokémon walk away? Not a ce—he wasn't that foolish.

  "Here, take this"

  Julian said, Gastly a Toxic Orb he had obtained previously.

  Gastly was startled once again. This human was giving it something valuable right from the start.

  It wasly sure what the strange, ominous orb was, but it could feel a deep, instinctual pull toward it.

  Well…how could it refuse?

  Shyly, Gastly took the Toxic iving it a little lick. Its face lit up in bliss.

  "Here, have some Energy Cubes too"

  Julian said, top-grade Ghost-type energy cubes.

  Gastly's mind told it to refuse, but its body was already reag out and taking a cube.

  As soon as the cube touched its tongue, Gastly's eyes lit up.

  Gastly: A ghost never submits…uhere's free food and lodging.