"They seemed to be searching for something, but I was in a hurry at the time and didn't pay much attention."
Darkrai—no, Darkrai's Trainer, Darkrai—no, Darkrai's trainer Darkrai—
…Ahem. Darkrai finished recounting everything he could remember.
After hearing his description, Ash and Gary spoke in unison:
"Team Rocket! If it's them, then everything makes sense!"
As soon as Darkrai described those people, Ash and Gary—both natives of Kanto—immediately reacted.
Such a conspicuous uniform—there was no one else it could be besides Team Rocket!
Combining this with what Darkrai had said earlier, Gary had every reason to suspect that Team Rocket's targets this time were Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon, and Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon.
After all, only Legendary Pokémon were worth Team Rocket mobilizing across regions for.
And that would also explain why Mewtwo sensed it.
Cresselia was a Pokémon that could recover through moonlight—using the moon to transmit a distress signal was perfectly reasonable.
But… was Team Rocket really that strong now?
Cresselia and Darkrai working together, yet still defeated?
Don't tell him Giovanni showed up personally?!
And another thing—
Had Team Rocket's business really expanded this far?
This place didn't look like Kanto at all!
Why?
Because just moments ago, a Piplup had waddled past in front of them.
No matter how you looked at it, Piplup was not native to Kanto.
But then—
Why did that Piplup end up in Ash's arms?
Gary slowly typed out a question mark in his head.
"Piplup! Why are you here? Did you run away from home? Where's Dawn? Why don't I see her?"
Holding Piplup, Ash craned his neck and looked around.
Ah—so they knew each other.
Gary silently withdrew his question mark.
"Piplup! Come back! It's dangerous here!"
At that moment, a slightly anxious female voice came from the depths of the forest.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Under the moonlight, a figure gradually emerged from the forest.
She was wearing a black dress with pink accents along the hem.
From her tone, it was obvious she had encountered something dangerous in the forest.
And the moment Ash heard her voice, he rushed forward without hesitation.
Before the girl could react, he grabbed her wrist.
"Dawn! Why are you here?!"
Ash's sudden appearance startled Dawn.
She instinctively turned around—
And under the moonlight, she saw four or five figures standing in the shadows of the forest.
Among them… was a Darkrai.
Those eerie blue eyes gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
"Ah! A g-ghost!!"
[Ayako]: Honestly, Dawn—still afraid of ghosts at your age?
[Dawn]: Mom, that's not something I can control!
[Wallace]: Ms. Ayako, I apologize for not noticing you earlier.
[Ayako]: You're too kind. I've already retired from Pokémon Contests.
[Wallace]: What a pity—your absence is a great loss to the Contest scene.
[Steven]: What's with him? Is the name Ayako really that famous?
[Wallace]: You uncouth brute, what do you know? Ms. Ayako won multiple consecutive Contest Championships and earned the title of Top Coordinator!
[Delia]: No wonder Dawn is so outstanding—she has such an amazing mother.
[Ayako]: You flatter me. Ash is the truly outstanding child. Dawn still has a long way to go.
[Delia]: Sigh, don't even mention it. My two sons are nothing but trouble. The older one barely talks, is almost an adult, and still doesn't have a girlfriend.
[Blue]: If I'm not mistaken, Aunt Delia, you're talking about Red, right? Red, you really should've found a girlfriend already.
[Red]: You wanna die?
[Lance]: My goodness! Red doesn't have a girlfriend? That's unbelievable! This is Red—the strongest Champion in Kanto's history!
[Flint]: Who's that? Such a big name—sounds exaggerated.
[Lorelei]: You doubt Red's strength? Then your own strength must be lacking.
[Raihan]: How strong is this Red? If he's called the strongest in Kanto, he should be on par with Leon.
[Leon]: Red, huh… He's the opponent I most wanted to face. Unfortunately, by the time I became World Champion, Red had already retired. Truly a shame.
[Steven]: If you ask me, both Leon and Red can be called the strongest. But since they've never fought, there's no definitive answer. Personally? I think Red is stronger.
[Diantha]: I agree. Leon's power lies in Gigantamax battles—but that has heavy restrictions. Outside Galar, he can only use about fifty percent of his strength.
[Steven]: Exactly. Red is different. His strength can be fully displayed anywhere. His Pikachu and Charizard left a deep impression on me.
[Flint]: All this hype and it's still Charizard? Are all these "strongest" trainers carried by Charizard? Leon, Red, Ash—Charizard is Arceus's dad or what?
[Volkner]: One day, you're going to die because of that mouth.
Kanto, Olorun—
Fresh off the plane, Blue and the others stared at the towering Olorun Castle.
But none of their attention was actually on the castle.
Instead, they were all focused on the glowing screen in the sky.
Had they been too low-key?
So much so that people didn't even know how strong they were?
Someone even dared to claim Red was strong because of Charizard?
Had that guy never been beaten up by Red before?
Go ask the Kanto Elite Four—who would dare say that to Red's face?!
This man was the Demon of Mt. Silver—
A monster who pushed talent and effort to their absolute limits!
From the very beginning, Red's gaze had never left the screen.
Blue was starting to worry—would Red get angry?
That Flint guy was still injured, after all.
If Red really snapped and went to teach him a lesson…
Blue was genuinely afraid Flint might die.
Just as he was about to say something—
Red's arms were suddenly grabbed tightly, one on each side.
Yellow and Green clung to him firmly.
Meanwhile, Blue felt like a stray dog rummaging through a trash can, only to get kicked away by a passerby.
So Red, Yellow, and Blue—primary colors—and he was the one left out as green?
MMP!
"My mom said I can't find a girlfriend?" Red finally spoke, his reaction lagging somewhere in another dimension.
"But… what's the point of having a girlfriend anyway?"
Yellow tightened her grip on Red's arm.
Green, however, immediately let go with a look of disgust.
So that's what this was about? She thought he was about to go kill someone!
Looks like she needed to hurry things up.
Aunt Delia was already chatting about matchmaking!
If they returned from Olorun without pairing Red and Yellow together—
Green was certain Aunt Delia would start online matchmaking in the chat!
Unacceptable!
This was a serious blow to her professional reputation!
As the embodiment of wisdom, Blue (Green) felt her brain working at maximum capacity.
She needed a way to get Red and Yellow alone together.
Then—
She glanced sideways at the stunned Blue behind her.
All because of this idiot!
Now she even had to find a way to get rid of him!
Back to the scene—
It wasn't until Cynthia stepped out of the shadows—
Her golden hair glowing under the moonlight like something sacred—
That Dawn finally relaxed.
Only then did she clearly see the person holding her wrist.
It was Ash.
But—
Why was Piplup in Ash's arms?
And—
Wasn't that long-haired guy Darkrai?
Why were Ash and Darkrai together?
And who was that brown, spiky-haired guy?
Questions piled up in Dawn's head one after another.
Her CPU overheated—actual steam practically rose from the top of her head.
Seeing this, Cynthia—whom everyone knew—stepped forward to mediate.
"Hello, Dawn. Do you still remember me? I'm Cynthia."
"Of course! Champion Cynthia—I'm your fan!"
Dawn immediately grabbed Cynthia's hand excitedly.
In Sinnoh, ninety-nine percent of people were Cynthia's fans.
Dawn was no exception.
"By the way," Cynthia continued, her expression turning serious,
"you said earlier that it's dangerous here. Did you encounter something in the forest?"
After taking Piplup back from Ash, Dawn thought carefully before speaking.
"Yes. Earlier, I saw a group of people wearing black uniforms. They injured Cresselia. Darkrai is fighting them right now to protect her."
"So that's how it is…"
Cynthia rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought.
With Dawn's testimony as confirmation, everything finally made sense.
Team Rocket had somehow learned that Cresselia and Darkrai were in this area—
So they came here to capture the two Legendary Pokémon.
After being injured, Cresselia used the moonlight to send out a distress signal.
Cynthia guessed the signal was originally meant for Darkrai.
But since Cresselia was a Psychic-type, the signal was also picked up by Mewtwo.
That was how they ended up being teleported here.
Now it was clear.
The culprit was Team Rocket.
"Damn Team Rocket—them again!"
"Pika!"
Ash and Pikachu shouted angrily.
Recently, Team Rocket had been far too active.
Not just the trio— even the executives were moving frequently.
Had Giovanni come up with another new plan?
Before Cynthia could think further—
Countless black spheres suddenly shot out from the forest in all directions.
Others might not recognize this move.
But Ash did.
He had seen Darkrai use it back in Alamos Town.
Dark Void—en masse!
That Darkrai must be in serious trouble!
"Get down! It's Darkrai's Dark Void!"
Ash immediately pulled Dawn and Cynthia down with him.
On the other side, Darkrai—who owned a Darkrai himself—smoothly crouched down to avoid the attack.
Only Gary was a step too slow.
It was his first time facing this move.
Before he could react, a small Dark Void hit him directly.
He collapsed flat onto the ground.
"Is that one your companion?" Darkrai asked casually.
"Yeah. Why?"
"You've got interesting friends. He looks like he really enjoys sleeping."
Ash slowly typed out a question mark.
"He means Gary is weak—he couldn't even dodge that," Dawn translated helpfully.
Ash's face darkened.
"Darkrai, don't get too arrogant! Gary is my friend, and I know how strong he is!"
"He still didn't dodge."
"That was an accident!"
"Even by accident, he didn't dodge."
"..."
"You bastard! After we deal with Team Rocket, dare to have another battle with me?!"
"Uh, to be honest, I'm really not interested in fighting a defeated opponent. There's no thrill at all. Though you did leave a good impression back then, and you even managed to defeat my Darkrai… but that's about it."
"I can lead you out of this forest."
"Deal! Then hurry up—I'm sick of this place!"
With that, Darkrai ignored the Dark Voids still flying around.
He flicked his burgundy cloak and pointed straight ahead.
"Darkrai, use Dark Void—push it back!"
At his command, Darkrai raised its arm.
Countless small Dark Voids surged forward, colliding with those flying out of the forest.
They annihilated each other.
Moments later, the forest returned to calm.
"Let's go."
Without waiting for Ash's response, Darkrai turned and walked in the opposite direction of where the Dark Voids had come from.
Seeing this, Ash finally understood why Darkrai always got lost.
"That way!"
"Oh."
[Raihan]: Darkrai's behavior reminds me of an old friend. This way of getting lost feels way too familiar.
[Leon]: You're not talking about me, are you? I've never lost my way in life, you know~
[Sonia]: Right, you haven't lost your way in life—but you are completely lost right now! Leon, our meeting time was yesterday afternoon! Why are you still not here?!
[Darkrai]: So I'm not alone… Champion Leon, from now on, you're my idol.
[Raihan]: Don't idolize that kind of thing!
[Ash]: So unfair! Why does someone get to use Legendary Pokémon in a tournament?! How is that fair at all?! Normal people can't even catch them!
[Darkrai]: Can't help it. I just have that level of strength. Since there's still time, you might want to think about whether you can make me use a second Pokémon. You're stronger than that guy named Paul, at least—after all, future you will also have Legendary Pokémon.
[Paul]: Hmph. Don't speak too soon. Even a mortal body can rival the gods.
[Darkrai]: No problem. My semifinal opponent is Ash. I don't think you'll be my finals opponent. Quarterfinals at best.
[Flint]: That makes no sense—this guy's even more irritating than me!
Back to the scene—
After successfully stopping Darkrai, Ash didn't immediately head into the forest.
Instead, he took Piplup back from Dawn.
Under everyone's puzzled gazes, Ash said:
"Piplup, use Water Gun on this brown, spiky-haired guy."
Piplup: ?
Despite its confusion, Piplup hesitated for a moment—
Then fired a Water Gun.
Even as a first-stage starter, Piplup's power was no joke.
A high-pressure Water Gun blasted Gary awake from his Dark Void-induced sleep.
His spiky hair drooped instantly—
From Super Saiyan to Survey Corps Eren.
He looked ridiculous.
"Hahahaha! Gary—you're shorter than me now!"
Ash laughed so hard he nearly fell over.
...
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