Darkrai, also called the Nightmare God, has the power to draw people or Pokémon into a deep sleep and into dreams.
It is a black Pokémon like a shadow as well; the part of it resembling white hair, forever rolling and turning, covers the greater part of its face and leaves only a pair of bright blue eyes showing.
Round about its neck is a red serrated thing like a collar, and from either shoulder hangs a long strip of black rag.
It has black clawed hands with three claws each, and ordinarily floats without legs, though it can also put out two legs and stand.
At this moment its blue eyes looked straight out all around it, and whatever they lit on felt a wave of discomfort, as though it had run into something dreadful, with a horror rising straight up into the heart.
And for Aurelian, fighting it face to face, the feeling was greater still.
"Roar—"
Salamence gave a great shout. It was not in the least afraid of this Darkrai.
Grim and gloomy — it did not like the look of the thing at all.
"Begin!"
The referee waved his flag, declaring the match resumed.
"Salamence, Flamethrower!"
"Roar—"
A searing stream of flame drove straight at it, and was easily dodged by Darkrai.
"Fast, are you. Then try this one — Draco Meteor!"
"Shoo—"
A streak of light rose into the sky, and then meteor after meteor came down, with an extremely wide area of effect, covering the whole arena.
"Poom, poom—"
Darkrai drifted and wove through the Draco Meteor as though strolling in a garden, and the meteors falling out of the sky could not touch it at all.
"Ice Beam."
"Dragon Breath."
The two moves met in mid-air, ending with the Ice Beam breaking the Dragon Breath, and the backwash went on forward along the same line.
Salamence beat its wings and dodged that Ice Beam.
Below, Darkrai attacked once more.
"Dark Void!"
"Haa—"
A dark void suddenly appeared and swept up at Salamence at great speed.
Salamence knew its force too and dodged with everything it had, but had not thought the void would grow larger.
Within a second it went from the size of a basketball to a void covering the arena, and naturally enough Salamence was caught by it.
Its whole body froze, and the dragon's eyes went blank and lost their colour.
It had already fallen into an endless nightmare.
"Dream Eater!"
"Haa—"
After Darkrai's phantom shape passed through Salamence, Salamence was seen to go limp and drop straight to the ground.
Its body was still twitching, as though it had met with something dreadful.
"There it is. Another one-move kill. What a splendid move — even a pseudo-legendary taken out in a single set."
"How is this Darkrai so uncanny? There's no defending against it at all."
Salamence's defeat set the crowd seething as well, and they fell to discussing it all at once.
"There isn't any defending against it. They say there was a city once, a whole city, that a Darkrai pulled into a dream. Only think of that and you know how frightening this Darkrai is."
"Then how did this Wren catch a Darkrai as strong as that?"
Somebody put the question.
"Chance, I suppose. This Wren is a man with a great destiny on him. Put him in a television drama or a novel and he'd be the protagonist."
"Then how is Aurelian to deal with a Darkrai you could call unbeatable?"
"Heh heh. How else is he to deal with it? He just waits to lose. I gave up betting on him long ago and went over to Wren. Legendary Pokémon are the way of it."
...............
"A pack of fools. The boss is the strongest, in case you hadn't noticed."
Listening to their talk, Ambrose said it, lost for words.
Because of the Legendary Pokémon, the odds on Vance taking the title had lengthened a great deal, and Ambrose had gone all in on the spot.
He had a hundred per cent faith in Vance. With Legendary Pokémon on the field he was not afraid either.
"Boss, you've got to do us proud. My marriage fund and my coffin money are both on it."
Ambrose said it to Vance, a picture of misery.
"Ha ha ha. I'll do my best."
Vance answered with a laugh.
"Have faith in the boss. You can certainly do it."
"I've bet on you as well." Cerise, who was there with them, said it after him.
Meeting the look Vance turned on her.
"I think you'll bring off another miracle too. After guessing wrong so many times I've got to guess right once."
Saying it, she laughed at herself.
There had been some good in entering this tournament after all. At the least it had given her modesty and a willingness to guess boldly, and that was enough.
Out in the arena, the Pokémon Aurelian sent out one after another were all beaten one by one, and he had only two left now.
One was the Haxorus from before, and the other had not yet appeared.
"Dragonite, our last hope is with you."
"Awooo—"
Dragonite came out. This was the strongest Pokémon in his hands, at energy level 67, with the Inner Focus Ability, which ought to be of some use in resisting Darkrai's nightmare illusions.
Then the Dragon Power on him burst out and linked with the Dragonite; the Dragonite was amplified and went from level 67 up to level 68.
Light blazed out in both its eyes.
This was the last and the strongest means he had. If it was no match, then there was nothing to be done.
"A Dragonite. He is a man of the Dragon Clan indeed — their resources run deep."
Wren grew serious too. This Dragonite was capable of threatening Darkrai.
"Whoo, whoo, whoo—"
A wild wind blew up across the field, and Dragonite soared into the air.
The wind around Darkrai turned on the instant into life-taking wind blades, all of them cutting in towards the centre.
"Dark Void!"
The void appeared and covered it over, and the wind blades coming at it were all swallowed by the void.
Besides being able to drag an opponent into a world of darkness, Dark Void also works upon space.
Attack and defence in one.
"Dark Pulse!"
"Fire Punch."
Dragonite turned over once, smashed that Dark Pulse apart with a Fire Punch, and then followed it with Extreme Speed and was already in front of the other.
"Boom—"
"Darkrai, Grudge."
"Dragon Pulse."
............
"Ice Beam."
"Flamethrower."
Dragonite was in fine condition and its momentum was full, and Wren, who understood the principle of the thing, was waiting.
Even in a straight slugging match, his Darkrai would not lose to a Dragonite!