Darkrai descended.
Not falling.Not gliding.
Claiming.
The sky warped around its mega form as it dropped lower, nightmare energy compressing the air until breathing felt like pulling lungs through tar. The city's lights dimmed in response, entire districts swallowed by creeping shadow as Darkrai's presence overwrote reality itself.
Cresselia drifted backward, barely holding altitude. Her glow flickered weakly, fractured rings trembling as she struggled to stabilize. Moonlight spilled unevenly across her form, thin and pale, a guardian pushed to the brink.
Cyrus felt it in his bones.
If Darkrai struck again like that…
She wouldn't get back up.
"Hoopa," Cyrus said sharply, eyes never leaving the sky.
Hoopa floated beside him, rings rotating lazily, but the hum beneath the sound was louder now, deeper.
"Mmm~?"
"Buy her time."
Hoopa's smile widened.
"Okaaay~!"
The world bent.
Not shattered. Not torn.Bent, like a magician's trick done with the universe itself.
Darkrai lunged.
A massive claw of condensed nightmare tore downward, aimed directly at Cresselia's chest, and passed through empty space.
Cresselia was gone.
Darkrai halted mid-strike, red eye narrowing as spatial readings screamed contradictions.
Hoopa's rings flared gold and violet.
"Oops~!" Hoopa chimed. "She's over there now~!"
Cresselia reappeared hundreds of meters higher, cocooned briefly in a warped pocket of space where nightmare energy struggled to reach her. She sagged within it, wings folding inward as she focused solely on recovery.
Darkrai snarled, a sound like a thousand overlapping whispers clawing at the mind.
Its gaze snapped downward.
Locked onto Cyrus.
The pressure hit instantly.
Cyrus staggered, boots scraping stone as fear slammed into him, not imagined, not illusory, but raw and invasive. Images flashed behind his eyes: endless darkness, falling cities, screaming Pokémon swallowed by shadow.
Gengar hissed, floating protectively in front of him.
"…Gen."
Ceruledge stepped forward, armor blazing, flames roaring defiantly.
Ursaluna rumbled low in its chest, massive form anchoring itself against the psychic storm.
Cyrus planted his feet.
"Yeah," he muttered. "That's what I thought."
Darkrai dropped the rest of the distance in an instant.
The ground exploded as it landed in the plaza, nightmare energy rippling outward in a shockwave that shattered windows and cracked stone. Streetlights burst. Sirens died mid-wail.
Darkrai straightened slowly, towering over the street, red markings pulsing violently across its body.
It raised one arm.
The shadows of nearby buildings stretched, twisting into jagged spires that pointed toward Cyrus like accusing fingers.
Cyrus lifted his arm.
"Ceruledge."
Ceruledge didn't hesitate.
It launched forward in a streak of blue fire, sword-arms blazing as it leapt high, slashing downward with everything it had.
Shadow Claw met nightmare armor.
The impact rang like steel against bone.
Darkrai barely moved.
Its counterstrike came fast — a sweeping backhand of condensed darkness that slammed Ceruledge out of the air and through a stone column in an eruption of debris.
"Ceruledge!" Cyrus shouted.
The knight rose from the rubble, armor scorched but intact, flames flaring hotter in response.
Still standing.
Darkrai turned its head slightly.
Interested.
Gengar vanished.
A heartbeat later, Dark Pulse detonated where it had been, shredding the pavement in a violent spiral.
Gengar reappeared behind Darkrai, launching a Shadow Ball point-blank.
The blast struck true.
Darkrai staggered half a step.
Half.
Its red eye flared.
A tendril of nightmare snapped backward, catching Gengar mid-air and slamming him into the ground hard enough to leave a crater.
"…Gar," he groaned.
Cyrus's jaw clenched.
"Ursaluna!"
The Bloodmoon Ursaluna roared and charged, massive claws glowing as it slammed into Darkrai's side with earth-shaking force. The collision cracked the plaza open, shockwaves rippling outward.
For the first time, Darkrai was pushed.
It skidded back several meters, boots carving trenches through stone.
Its head snapped toward Ursaluna.
Rage flared.
Nightmare energy surged, thicker, heavier, coiling around its arm as it prepared to strike.
Hoopa's rings flashed.
The space between Darkrai and Ursaluna folded like paper.
Darkrai's attack slammed into itself, detonating in a violent implosion of shadow.
"Ooooh~!" Hoopa giggled. "Careful~!"
Darkrai shrieked — not in pain, but fury — and turned fully toward Hoopa.
"You don't like that, huh?" Cyrus muttered.
He raised another ball.
"Tyrunt! Now!"
The blue Tyrunt burst forth with a roar and charged, Ancient Power surging as glowing stones orbited him before firing forward like artillery.
The rocks slammed into Darkrai's chest, exploding in bursts of primal force.
Darkrai staggered again.
More this time.
Cyrus felt it — the shift.
Not fear.
Respect.
Darkrai raised both arms.
The city screamed.
Nightmare energy erupted outward in a dome, swallowing the plaza in writhing shadow. Gravity warped. Sound distorted. The world felt wrong.
Cyrus dropped to one knee, breath ripping from his lungs.
"Nope," he growled. "Not today."
He looked up.
"Hoopa."
Hoopa hovered closer, rings blazing now, voice still light — but edged with steel.
"Yeeeah~?"
"Hold the field."
Hoopa's grin sharpened.
"Okaaay~!"
Reality fractured.
Hoopa's rings expanded, forming a glowing lattice around the battlefield. Nightmare energy slammed into it — and bent, redirected, folded away from civilians, from buildings, from the city itself.
Darkrai roared, launching blast after blas, and Cyrus's team held.
Ceruledge slashed through shadow.
Gengar harassed relentlessly, never staying in one place long enough to be pinned.
Tyrunt fought with reckless courage, snapping and charging.
Ursaluna stood like a living bulwark, absorbing strikes meant to wipe out entire blocks.
And above it all, within Hoopa's warped pocket of space…
Cresselia glowed.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Her light strengthened, fractures knitting together as moonlight reclaimed its brilliance.
Darkrai noticed.
Its attacks grew wilder.
More desperate.
Cyrus rose to his feet, heart pounding, exhaustion clawing at his limbs.
He met Darkrai's gaze.
"You're not winning tonight," he said, voice hoarse but unyielding.
Darkrai hesitated.
Just a fraction.
Enough.
Above, Cresselia's glow surged — not full strength, but enough.
Enough to return to the fight.
Cyrus felt the shift like a breath after drowning.
The night wasn't over.
But it wasn't lost.
Not yet.
And for the first time since it awakened…
Darkrai had been stopped.