Darkrai's red eyes shone like blood moons through the haze-choked air.
He hovered in the air, shrouded in darkness.
Sam stood steady on the brink of the rocky cliff, eyes slitted.
"Lucario's a Fighting and Steel type. He resists Darkrai's Dark-type attacks…"
"And with the Justified ability, each time a Dark attack strikes him…"
He glanced upward.
Lucario's aura blazed.
"His power just keeps increasing."
Darkrai's storm of Dark Pulses, deadly to most Pokémon, scarcely nicked Lucario.
Instead, it was gasoline.
Aura and justice poured through him, incinerating the dark energy like a holy fire.
Lucario's fists tightened.
His breaths slowed.
Concentrated.
Lethal.
"He's at his best," Sam grunted.
"Luca, Brick Break!"
"LUKAAA!!"
Lucario launched off with power, the ground under his feet shattering like broken glass.
He blazed forward like a silver meteorite, aura burning behind him in a shimmering wake.
Darkrai snarled furiously, acting on reflex, shadowy claws wreathed in dark mist.
They clashed midair.
BOOOM!!!
The shockwave spread across the mountain peak.
Both Pokémon flew back several meters.
Lucario struck hard, but upright.
Dust and debris swirled around him.
Opposite him, Darkrai staggered in the air, cloak flapping.
Its shape trembled slightly like screen static.
The surrounding mist was dissipating.
"He's weakening," Sam thought.
That's when he realized something odd.
Lucario was out of breath.
The blow had drained him more than the last.
"Just now, that wasn't Dark Pulse."
He squinted, remembering the exchange.
"That was Foul Play."
A dark, malevolent move that betrays the target's own Attack stat.
Lucario's augmented power had turned against him.
"So that's Darkrai's countermeasure." Sam clenched his jaw.
"But it's still a Dark move."
"Which means we still have the upper hand!"
"Luca, Rock Smash, now!"
"LUKAAAA!!!"
Lucario let out a mighty roar and charged forward, speeding along at blinding velocity.
He struck through the air like lightning, uncoiling, orange-red-glowing fists blazing with combat energy.
Every step sent a blast of aura surging into the air, kicking up the dust.
A tight shockwave followed him.
If this attack connected
Even a legendary Pokémon like Darkrai would crumble.
But just as Lucario closed the gap
Zzzhhhkkkkkkk!
The air ahead of him distorted.
Space itself bent, and from that bend, a black void appeared mid-air.
Darkrai's hallmark move.
Dark Void!
Dozens of black, ethereal hands burst forth from the tear, reaching, clutching.
"He's attempting to drag Lucario into a nightmare!"
Most Legendary Pokémon have trump signature moves, catastrophic attacks that redefine the field in the blink of an eye, like Dragon Ascent, which allows Rayquaza to cut through the heavens themselves.
But Darkrai…
Darkrai was unique.
Its sole move wasn't a brutal force attack.
It was mental.
Deceptive.
Dark Void.
A void of black that sucks enemies into inescapable sleep, chock-full of nightmares so vivid they shred the soul.
Sam squinted as the distorted black portal undulated.
"Once drawn inside, no Pokémon can be woken by outside force."
"Not noise. Not agony. Raw willpower alone."
If Lucario were sucked into that abyss
The fight would shift immediately in favor of Darkrai.
But Sam was not taken aback.
With the strength of Aura, he reached out directly into Lucario's mind, barking his order before the attack even finished:
"Luca, Extreme Speed dodge!"
"LU-KAAAAA!!!"
The instant the black hands extended
Lucario blasted away from them in a blast of white aura.
Boom!
The Aura energy enveloping his form exploded outwards, shocking apart the churning darkness.
He dodged, twirled, and slid between the snapping claws, the air distorting behind him.
He landed beside Sam, untouched.
"You okay?" Sam asked, without looking away from Darkrai.
Lucario nodded curtly.
"Luka~!"
The dark smog around Darkrai was dissipating.
It had depleted its reserves in forcing the Dark Void.
Now
It drifted lower.
Slower.
A faint shiver ran through its form.
"Good," Sam grumbled.
"Luca, finish off. Let's settle this once and for all!"
Lucario advanced, aura building.
"LUKAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"