"Boom—"
Dust and smoke rolled up and drifted, and from below it looked like a mushroom climbing into the air.
The field, only just replaced, was broken to pieces all over again.
"Rooaar—"
A dragon's cry howled out, and the phantom shape of a dragon god went crashing about in every direction.
"Darkrai, Dark Void!"
The Dark Void spread outward until it covered nearly the whole arena, a black expanse that gave anyone who looked at it a deep sense of ill omen, with a horror rising in the heart.
And the Dragonite at the centre of the Dark Void naturally took the worst of it.
Struck by that Dark Void, the Dragonite's bright, spirited eyes were filled now with numbness and confusion.
Over in the competitors' area, its Trainer, Aurelian, had fallen into the same eerie stillness along with it, head down, fists clenched tight, his body still trembling with whatever he was going through.
"Into the nightmare together with the Dragonite. Trainer and Pokémon facing it side by side, is it."
Vance saw it clearly enough. Watch the small movements of his body and the Dragonite's carefully and it was plain that the two of them were almost perfectly in step.
In his perception there was also some nameless power between the two of them, connecting them, so that they advanced and retreated as one.
And it was the same now with him and the Dragonite.
"So this is another use of the bond between Trainer and Pokémon?"
Vance's thoughts turned again to the matter of bonds. Looking at it, at the way they were behaving, this too was a kind of bond.
"The Dragon Power, is it. At this rate, will he end up with a bond Dragonite the way Ash did?"
Then he shook his head. The idea felt a little far-fetched, though it was not impossible either.
Vance's interest was up, and he meant to see just how this Aurelian would handle the Darkrai.
Everyone in the arena was holding their breath as well, watching the fight up on the stage.
Whether Aurelian could hold out came down to this.
If he held out, there was no saying he might not win; if it went as it had gone before, then there was no suspense at all about how it would end.
"Dragonite!!"
Aurelian's consciousness drifted through a vast darkness, and, guided by the Dragon Power, came before the Dragonite.
"Dragonite. Dragonite."
"Oo-oo—"
The Dragonite turned its head. There was fear on that honest, simple face already, but seeing its Trainer there with it again settled it a great deal.
"This is a dream space. Darkrai has pulled us in. Stay with me, and we'll break it together!"
As he spoke, a thick power burst out of him and answered in the Dragonite.
"Rooaar—"
Heartened, the Dragonite pulled itself together and found its confidence again.
"Sss-heh—"
A blue eye opened, a trace of ill-omened presence appeared, and then down came a pitch-black hand, vast beyond all measure, hundreds of times the size of the Dragonite.
The world before the Dragonite and Aurelian went black, that terrible, uncanny presence rose in their hearts, and the space around them felt heavy as lead, too heavy even to breathe in.
"It's all a dream. We can break it! Dragonite!"
Aurelian shouted it out, driving off the sick feeling.
"Rooaar—"
"Whoosh—"
A Hyper Beam broke through every binding and drove straight into the black depths.
Then the black space shook and churned as if the world were collapsing, and after that a storm came sweeping through.
"Darkrai, more power! Don't let them come to their senses!"
In the real world, seeing signs that the Dragonite was waking, Wren said it quickly.
"Hhhh—"
"Whatever it costs. Your life included."
Wren said it flatly, without the least regret in his voice.
While it hesitated Wren gave a cold smile and did something — there was no telling what — and Darkrai let out a shriek, and those deep blue eyes turned a bloody red.
The wind and cloud swept round, and the black canopy came down again.
The Dragonite's struggling stopped dead, and the signs of its waking vanished.
"Dream Eater!"
"Hhhh—"
A shadow swept past, and the Dragonite went down on one knee. Its Trainer made the same movement.
"How can this be!! We had nearly broken free."
Aurelian said it weakly, looking at the Darkrai without the least understanding.
"Oo-oo—"
Only this time the Dragonite had not lost the ability to battle. Its wings beat once or twice, and it managed to stand on the ground.
"So I am going to lose after all."
Aurelian shook his head and laughed at himself. There really was nothing to be done.
But the scene had gone quiet. Darkrai floated there without moving.
"Darkrai, press the advantage!!"
Darkrai stayed as it was, making no move, its pair of red eyes watching the Dragonite quietly, as though it were thinking about something.
Ten seconds or so later it finally responded and went back to what it had been before.
"Whew. Good, good. It hasn't slipped the leash. I'll have to ask Elder Vayne for a hand later."
Wren let out a breath. So long as it had come back, that was well enough.
"Again — Dark Void!"
"Hhhh—"
The Dark Void came down once more and drew the weakened Dragonite into it, and this time the Dragonite had no strength left to answer it.
With another Dream Eater the Dragonite went down and did not get up, its eyes spinning.
At the same moment Aurelian took a heavy blow of his own. The face that had been so full of spirit turned deathly pale, all the life gone out of it.
He held himself upright by force of will all the same and sent out the Pokémon he had left.
However badly the odds ran, he had to try. Who was to say there might not be a way back?
Unfortunately, though Darkrai's attacks had lost some of their force and its condition was poor, it could still finish off the Pokémon he had left.
"Smack—"
"Haxorus is unable to battle. As the competitor Aurelian has no Pokémon remaining, the winner is the competitor Wren!!"
The referee gave his ruling, faithful to his duty.
"Clap, clap, clap—"
The arena boiled over again, giving both Trainers their applause.
Through that applause Aurelian walked down off the field, dejected. He had lost after all, and failed the charge his cousin, Elite Four Lance, had laid on him.
More than that, with a start as high as his, born into the Dragon Clan house, with every advantage of environment and resources to be raised in, he had lost today to an unknown named Wren, and he felt the shame of it.
The two finalists of this Indigo League Conference counted as an upset. Neither of them had much of a name, and prodigies like Aurelian and Elspeth had all gone down to defeat.
Vance. Wren.
Their names and their pictures went up on the great screen above, and next these two would settle the championship of the tournament between them.
Their meeting — would it be a steamrolling by Wren, or would Vance work another miracle and give them a real battle of titans?
That was what the people in the arena were thinking, and they were all waiting to see.
The last match was set for the evening.
The time between was naturally for the two Trainers to make their strength ready.
To put themselves in order, so that they could bring their best to the final.
"Elder."
"Well done. When we get back I shall put in a word to have you commended."
Elder Vayne narrowed his eyes and said it with a chuckle.
"Thank you, Elder. Here are my Pokémon — would you be so good as to give them some treatment. And just now, there was something not right about Darkrai's condition......"
Wren told him about what had happened.
"Very well."
Elder Vayne nodded, and then went off busily with the Poké Balls.
Over on Vance's side, he was taking back the Poké Balls Nurse Joy had brought him.
He took a look at the Aerodactyl and the rest. They had all recovered and were in excellent condition, fit for a hard fight.
"Lads, tonight's the time for you to show what you can do."
Vance patted the Gyarados and the others on his belt.
The Poké Balls shook gently, answering him.
As for what the other side might be, they were not afraid of it.
A Legendary Pokémon, even — they would go at it all the same.
A Legendary, was it? They had done that several times over. There was nothing in it to be afraid of.
"So you mean to steamroll me. That won't be managed."
Vance said it softly.
By now Gyarados and Zweilous had both reached level 60, their bodies filled with energy to the mark, ready to enter Elite-Four-class at any moment; and with the boost of his Viridian Power on top of that, backed by the help of an Elite-Four-class psychic, they had nothing to fear from him.
Darkrai's great strength lay in using the Dark Void to pull Pokémon into a nightmare space, to terrify and hypnotise them, and then to end it with a Dream Eater.
And on that particular ground Gyarados and the others were precisely the ones with nothing to fear. They had trained for it. They had been put through it under Vance's hand, and under the hand of a Near-Champion Alakazam as well.
Besides which, Vance was a Psychic himself, which gave him advantage enough where mental hypnosis and confusion were concerned, and with the Viridian Power added to that, none of it frightened him.
And if it came to the worst, Vance would simply send out the Alakazam and let the old Near-Champion take the field.
As for whether that broke the rules — it certainly did not.
So long as he could direct the Alakazam, what of it?
The Alakazam would go along with it, no doubt, and that went without saying.
In that case, the two of them together, he and the Alakazam, and even Darkrai would have to go down on its knees.
Still, this was only a thought of Vance's.
And it would not be needed. He had confidence enough that with the Gyarados and the others he already had in hand, he could deal with that Wren.