With Giratina's roar, the Poke Ball containing James's Weezing suddenly vanished from his hand.
In its place appeared another ball, glowing with a dark purple light.
A ghostly gleam flashed, and from it emerged Malamar.
A suffocating, sinister aura burst forth around Malamar, quickly engulfing the Battle Castle's grand hall.
Some wary spectators, overwhelmed by the oppressive pressure, instinctively released their Pokemon.
"Holy crap, I knew this Ryujiro guy was hiding something!"
"How the hell did he train that Malamar? That's terrifying!"
"Damn, just one look made my brain go cold. If you put this thing in our town, every air conditioner store would go bankrupt!"
Just a few battles ago, the audience had been dozing off, some even leaving early out of boredom.
But the moment Malamar appeared, every single person's eyes went wide, terrified of missing even a second of what was happening.
Darach's mouth twitched, 'Why did this guy suddenly turn so strong?'
He'd spent the whole morning acting like a total amateur. Darach had even thought they were in sync, both try ing to stall for time.
'And now, this? You were waiting to stab me in the back at the end?'
Seeing everyone's reaction, James felt miserable inside.
'Damn it, could you people stop praising already?'
'Run! Hurry up and run!'
'If you don't, you'll all get dragged into the Reverse World.'
"Malmar!", Malamar let out a chilling cry. The power of hypnosis flared from within it, spreading fast and affecting every single person present.
Everyone felt their minds slow a beat, unconsciously feeling a strange fondness toward Malamar.
Especially the trainers with weak willpower, one after another, they stood up and shouted feverishly toward Malamar.
The scene was utterly bizarre.
Malamar seemed to relish it. Its tentacles spread wide, swaying gracefully through the air as it hovered above everyone, like a monarch overlooking its subjects.
Darach narrowed his eyes. As one of the heads of the Battle Frontier, his knowledge of Pokemon was vast.
Malamar, the Hypnosis Pokemon. A rare Dark + Psychic type combination, famous for luring prey and enemies closer with hypnotic illusions.
'But this...'
'Putting hundreds of people to sleep with just one cry?'
'What kind of joke is this?'
Normally, even a strong Malamar could never achieve something like that.
If this Pokemon were allowed to break through his defense and reach the young lady, whose psychic power could spiral out of control at any time...
'No. Absolutely not.'
That kind of outcome would be disastrous. Darach knew it was time to use the Pokemon Caitlin had entrusted to him.
Thinking this, he stepped back a few paces, clearing a large enough space in the arena.
Just as Malamar tilted its head in confusion, wondering why Darach was retreating—
A deafening dragon's roar suddenly ripped through the air.
A massive black rift appeared in the center of the Battle Castle's ceiling.
A torrent of spatial energy gushed from within, throwing the entire hall into chaos.
The spectators who had been dazed by Malamar's hypnosis snapped awake, eyes wide in horror at the sight before them.
"Wh-what is that thing?"
Everyone trembled in fear, instantly recalling the news reports from a few days ago.
At first, Twinleaf Town had also seen a black hole like this one, and then came the apocalypse.
Even Giratina, deep within the Reverse World, looked on in confusion. It knew this wasn't Palkia's power… but it was definitely of the same origin.
'Since when did that guy have a kid behind my back?'
["Malamar, take care of it."]
"Maa~laaar!"
At Giratina's order, Malamar nodded quickly. Its proud eyes flashed red as it attacked the unstable space.
Someone in the crowd recognized the technique, it was Hypnosis.
"Malamar's using Hypnosis… Wait, does that mean there's a Pokemon inside that rift?"
"But, but didn't the League say they were already negotiating with Lord Palkia?"
The man's voice trembled. He hurriedly gathered his things, ready to flee this place of disaster.
At that moment, a roar with earth-shaking power thundered through the hall, echoing directly in the ears of every human and Pokemon, Malamar included.
A faint, downward-radiating ring of light appeared around every Pokemon's body.
Then, a massive red head forced its way out of the rift. Its eyes, larger than lanterns, looked down upon Malamar with overwhelming dominance.
That's right, forced its way out.
For a Red Gyarados, even a several-meter-wide rift wasn't big enough. It had to squeeze its enormous body through, inch by inch.
The sight might have been ridiculous, if not for the sheer, crushing aura radiating from it.
If a single Wishiwashi squeezed in, that'd be funny.
But a whole school of Wishiwashi squeezing in? That's horror.
Under Gyarados's gaze, Malamar could barely keep itself afloat.
"RAAAWR!"
With a furious roar, Gyarados's ten-meter-long body coiled and twisted through the air, wrapping itself around Malamar in a spiral.
'You're my opponent?'
Malamar looked at the Gyarados… then glanced toward where Giratina was lurking.
'Bro, how do you expect me to answer that?'
'No matter what I do, I'm getting eaten!'
Seeing Malamar completely paralyzed with fear, Giratina suddenly felt… lonely.
It couldn't even figure out where it went wrong, why it kept running into such useless followers.
'It's just a Gyarados, what are you so scared of?'
["Just shock him, damn it!"]
'Shock?'
Malamar blinked, speechless.
It had actually thought of doing that at first, but the moment Gyarados appeared, something in its mind screamed that this red monster was immune to electricity.
'Still, if Lord Giratina says so…'
Malamar gritted its metaphorical teeth, focused on Gyarados, and raised its tentacles high.
Above the ceiling, dark clouds began to gather, thick and heavy with thunder.
'Well, can't hurt to try. Might as well make it rain first.'
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