A completely black Darkrai, with some white and red ornaments on its head, and a Haxorus whose body was covered in bulging muscles, with brown-colored skin and an aura as imposing as a sharpened axe.
The battle began immediately when the momentum of both reached its peak. Darkrai and Haxorus charged at each other at the same time. The difference was that Darkrai's movements were silent, while Haxorus's charge was deafening, as if it shook heaven and earth.
Cain knew Pokémon like Haxorus quite well, since his own master had an extremely powerful one.
This type of Pokémon is born with the ability to learn the moves Dragon Dance and Swords Dance, two extremely powerful boosting moves. That is why, if given enough time to accumulate strength, its potential limit is not something that can be restricted by level or talent alone.
However, it was clear that the opponent had not developed Haxorus in that direction. It could not, like Blaziken, use Swords Dance or Dragon Dance while moving, devoting only part of its concentration to them.
Thus, in front of Darkrai, who had an absolute advantage in speed, it was impossible for it to use those moves so calmly.
The distance between the two closed in an instant.
"Haxorus, Taunt! Dragon Claw!" Brad ordered in a low voice.
Upon receiving the command, Haxorus's eyes lit up. The two massive axe-like spikes on its head gleamed with red light as they aimed at the approaching Darkrai.
If the move Taunt succeeded, for a period of time Darkrai would only be able to use offensive moves.
But Darkrai's gaze hardened, and in front of it appeared a disc-shaped black hole—a cave of darkness—that directly swallowed Haxorus's Taunt. With a push from Darkrai, the black hole advanced straight toward Haxorus.
Feeling the terror emanating from that black hole, Haxorus's expression changed. The Dragon Claw it was about to use to attack turned into a defensive maneuver.
Slash!
Slash!
With both arms, it completely shattered the black hole.
That black hole was precisely Darkrai's exclusive move: Dark Void!
This move can forcibly drag the struck enemy into a state of sleep. As long as the opponent is not far stronger than Darkrai, once hit there is almost no chance of breaking free.
Haxorus had clearly sensed that threat, which was why it preferred to abandon its attack in order to destroy the black hole.
"Haxorus, Rock Tomb!" Brad's voice rang out again just as the black hole shattered.
Because behind the destroyed black hole... came Darkrai!
Two chains of rock rose up from behind Haxorus, lifting and twisting as they moved to bind Darkrai.
But Darkrai, who maintained a constant mental connection with Cain, was not about to stand there waiting. Its black body trembled and blurred; one after another, new Darkrai emerged from it.
Double Team!
Haxorus's Rock Tomb missed completely.
In an instant, there were so many Darkrai that Haxorus truly did not know which one was real.
One after another, fierce auras were released from all the Darkrai, and from every direction attacks of Dark Pulse were launched.
"Haxorus! Draco Meteor!" Faced with that situation, the only way to break the encirclement was with a wide-area attack. And Haxorus's strongest area move was, without a doubt, the most powerful group move of the Dragon type: Draco Meteor!
A yellow sphere of energy shot from Haxorus's mouth into the sky. Moments later, enormous flame-wrapped meteors descended from above, raining down on all the Darkrai.
However, before Draco Meteor could destroy all the shadows, Darkrai's Dark Pulse managed to strike Haxorus, causing it pain, since its special defense was not particularly outstanding.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The meteors smashed into the ground, leaving deep craters, and all the copies of Darkrai were destroyed.
This time, Brad had learned his lesson. He did not let Draco Meteor reach Cain, instead concentrating the attack solely on Darkrai.
If, through another such mistake, Haxorus were defeated by a single wave of Darkrai, the blow to him would be devastating.
Even so, although Draco Meteor destroyed all the shadows, it did not cause any real damage to Darkrai. With an electric flash, it reacted in time and dodged the meteors. Within the impact area of Draco Meteor, the only safe place was precisely the point where the user of the move stood.
But having a Pokémon specialized in special attack rush toward one that relied on its body and excelled at physical attacks seemed like suicide.
Seeing Darkrai's behavior, Brad not only did not panic, he felt delighted.
In fact, at first even Cain hesitated slightly at that decision, but it was Darkrai's words that dispelled his worries.
If it truly were not good at close combat, then when it fought alongside its sister in the past, who was the one that always charged to the front?
Thus, Cain trusted Darkrai completely.
That slight doubt, however, showed that the rapport between Cain and Darkrai was not yet perfect. Otherwise, Cain would have even taken the initiative to order Darkrai to charge at Haxorus from the very start.
But this kind of battle was precisely a process for Cain and Darkrai to understand each other better. The more battles they experienced together, the greater their synchronization would become, and the more powerful the strength they displayed.
Fortunately, that moment of hesitation had no impact on the overall course of the battle.
In the blink of an eye, Darkrai appeared in front of Haxorus.
Just as Haxorus showed a ferocious smile and prepared to attack, it discovered that the first to be injured... was itself.
Darkrai used the inertia of its charge and, with its claws wrapped in dense dark energy, fiercely tore into Haxorus's waist, breaking its scales and leaving three deep claw marks.
Feeling the pain, Haxorus erupted in rage. Bluish-violet Dragon-type energy surged from its claws as it swung them violently toward Darkrai's head.
Duck! Lean forward! Attack and retreat at the same time!
Everything happened in a perfect sequence.
Darkrai pushed the agility of its body to the extreme. Not only did Haxorus's attack fail to hit it, but Haxorus itself took another blow from Darkrai.
The reason was easy to understand: Darkrai fought with greater experience and awareness. Although Haxorus had the advantage in raw strength, Darkrai fully exploited its superiority in speed.
If you can't hit the enemy, what use is having so much strength?
It was like someone at Diamond rank fighting another who had barely reached Platinum rank. Even if the difference in technique was not enormous, in awareness it was an overwhelming superiority.
Moreover, those small advantages accumulated through countless details eventually caused a qualitative change, becoming, in the end, the absolute key to victory.
This method of gradually accumulating advantages and wearing down the opponent is called "snowballing."
When the snowball becomes large enough to crush the opponent, the outcome is already decided.
The numerous wounds Darkrai had left on Haxorus seemed insignificant at first, but when they accumulated to a certain point, they became the final rock that would crush it.
(End of chapter)