Dr. Dov raised his massive right hand as violent energy surged around him. A raging gale swept across the area, hurling rocks and broken branches into the air. Black energy gathered in his palm, rapidly condensing.
In an instant, a gigantic sphere of black energy appeared before everyone.
It loomed overhead like a falling meteor, blotting out the sky and swallowing the sunlight.
The crushing pressure split the ground open with jagged cracks. Clumps of soil and shattered stones lifted into the air, pulled upward toward the sphere as if caught in a powerful gravitational pull.
The sphere hung there like a devouring void, mercilessly drawing in everything around it.
The people below stared up at the enormous energy sphere in shock.
The threat of death felt suffocatingly close.
Fear gripped them as the overwhelming pressure bore down on their bodies. They couldn't run. They couldn't even speak.
All they could do was stand there and watch.
Helpless.
Frozen in fear.
Waiting for death.
Even Commander Xander's face had gone pale.
Power on this level was simply beyond what any human could withstand.
Lilith's face was just as pale, despair flickering in her eyes as she stared at the enormous sphere hanging in the sky.
A crushing sense of helplessness weighed on her chest.
No one here could stop that attack.
Not even Gardevoir.
This time... they might not survive.
...
Suspended high above, Dr. Dov looked down at the crowd and sneered.
"All right... time for you to be on your way."
"Disappear, insects."
The moment the words left his mouth, he hurled the massive energy sphere downward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the attack descended, it compressed the surrounding air into violent shockwaves that roared across the sky. Even the air itself seemed ready to tear apart under the pressure.
A vast shadow swallowed the entire area.
Not a single ray of sunlight remained, as if the light itself had been devoured.
The crushing darkness weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.
They wanted to run.
They wanted to scream.
But their bodies refused to move.
Just as Lilith prepared to make a desperate final stand—
A clear voice suddenly rang out, cutting through the suffocating silence.
"Darkrai... use Dark Pulse!"
The sudden command stunned everyone.
Darkrai?
At a time like this?
Everyone instinctively turned toward the voice.
In the distance, a massive Gyarados was gliding through the sky, riding the turbulent wind.
Standing atop its head was a young boy.
His clothes whipped violently in the wind, yet he stood firm atop Gyarados's head, completely unmoved by the gale.
A boy?
A youth riding a dragon?
Even Lilith froze in disbelief.
From the uniform he wore, she could immediately tell he was one of the candidates taking this exam.
But instead of hiding somewhere safe—
He had actually come back here?
Just to show off?!
Lilith nearly lost her temper on the spot.
Before she could say anything, however—
A pitch-black figure appeared in front of the dragon-riding youth.
A dark Pokémon emerged from the shadows.
Its single cyan eye gleamed with a piercing light.
The Nightmare Pokémon—
Darkrai.
Lilith's pupils contracted.
Her eyes widened.
It really was Darkrai.
A high school student… actually had a Legendary Pokémon?
Lilith stared at the boy standing on Gyarados's head, disbelief flooding her mind.
...
After appearing, Darkrai briefly glanced at Aaron.
Then its gaze shifted upward toward the massive sphere of energy descending from the sky.
A faint trace of disdain flickered in its eye.
Dark mist curled around its right arm as dense energy gathered in its palm, rapidly compressing into a black sphere roughly a meter across.
Compared to the colossal, meteor-like attack overhead, the difference in size was almost laughable.
Like an ant standing before an elephant.
Without hesitation, Darkrai hurled the small sphere of energy upward.
The sight nearly shattered everyone's composure.
That was Darkrai!
A Legendary Pokémon!
So why did that attack look so small?!
That tiny energy ball—who was it supposed to threaten?!
Some people even began to suspect it might actually be a Ditto disguised as Darkrai.
Just as everyone stood there in stunned silence—
Darkrai's pitch-black sphere of energy collided with the enormous attack in the sky.
A deep tremor rippled through the air.
Then the small black sphere erupted with terrifying power.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore through the sky.
Dr. Dov's massive sphere of energy was instantly swallowed by the overwhelming force of Darkrai's attack and detonated midair.
A violent shockwave burst outward in every direction.
Trees for several kilometers around were flattened in an instant. The clouds overhead were blasted apart, leaving the sky completely clear.
The people on the ground were thrown backward by the devastating aftershock.
Wave after wave of energy rippled through the sky like surging tides.
High above, Dr. Dov finally noticed Darkrai's presence.
His eyes widened as he roared in disbelief.
"How is that possible?!"
"The Nightmare Pokémon... Darkrai?!"
Staring at the pitch-black figure below, Dr. Dov's expression darkened.
He had never expected another Legendary Pokémon to appear in this region.
And not just any Legendary Pokémon—
But one of the more powerful ones.
The Nightmare Pokémon.
His strongest attack had been effortlessly destroyed by Darkrai.
A chill of unease ran through Dr. Dov.
The situation had completely slipped out of his control.
...
Shielded by their Pokémon, Lilith and Brutus managed to stay on their feet despite the shockwaves.
They stared up at the sky in stunned silence.
The massive attack had been completely destroyed.
So this was the power of a Legendary Pokémon.
It wasn't even close to the same level.
But what shocked them even more was something else.
The Nightmare Pokémon—Darkrai—was actually obeying the commands of a teenage boy.
That realization was even more astonishing than Darkrai's appearance itself.
Legendary Pokémon could indeed be captured by humans.
But it was incredibly rare.
These Pokémon had lived for countless years, and their intelligence rivaled that of humans.
How could they possibly submit so easily?
As far as anyone knew, only one person in the region possessed a Legendary Pokémon—
The Protector of Hualis.
And their partner was another Legendary Pokémon.
Cresselia.
The reason other regions did not dare act rashly was precisely because of Cresselia's presence.
Without that deterrent, a place rich in resources like this region would likely have become a target for foreign invasion long ago.