"Darkrai!"
Tobias threw his Poké Ball without hesitation.
[Lv. 66 Darkrai / Quasi-Legendary]
Sa as always—Darkrai ca out first.
On Gary's side, the Pokémon he chose was one that hadn't appeared in any of his previous matches.
"The Tobias player opens with Darkrai once again!" the comntator announced. "And Gary's starter is... Togekiss! A Pokémon he's never used before in this tournant. It does have a type advantage, but can it really stand up to the mighty Darkrai?"
The comntator clearly favored Tobias. Based purely on the tournant results so far, Tobias's performance had been more dominant. Gary had steamrolled weaker opponents, but Tobias had done the sa thing with Legendary Pokémon. In the comntator's mind, Darkrai was the favorite.
On the field, Togekiss floated in front of Darkrai and gave it a look that could only be described as condescending—like a stern older sister scolding a misbehaving child.
Darkrai stared back blankly, then turned away, ignoring Togekiss completely.
Togekiss's expression imdiately changed. Its eyes narrowed into sothing that looked downright vicious—sohow even more intimidating than Darkrai itself.
"What's going on?" Dawn said, confused. "Why does Gary's Togekiss look so... angry?"
"Does it?" Ash tilted his head. "I just think it looks fired up."
"..."
The referee saw that both Pokémon were in position and raised his flags.
"Battle, begin!"
"Darkrai, use Ice Beam," Tobias ordered.
Darkrai moved first, which was unusual. It condensed a beam of freezing energy and fired it straight at Togekiss.
"Flathrower," Gary countered.
Togekiss opened its mouth and spat out a stream of fire.
Tobias's brow creased. He hadn't expected Togekiss to know Flathrower. That wasn't a move Togekiss normally learned.
But the result was even more surprising. The flas collided with the Ice Beam, producing a burst of steam, but the fire pushed straight through and hit Darkrai.
"Dak!"
Darkrai hissed in pain and dodged sideways, pulling away from the flas. But a second later, a flicker of fire appeared on its body—residual burn damage.
"Incredible!" the comntator shouted. "Not only did Togekiss overpower Ice Beam, but Darkrai appears to have been burned!"
That was the work of Togekiss's ability: Super Luck. Combined with Serene Grace, any move with a secondary effect had its probability multiplied by four. Flathrower normally had a 10% burn chance. In Togekiss's hands, that beca 40%.
At least Darkrai was primarily a special attacker, so the burn wouldn't cut its offensive power. If it had been a physical attacker, the matchup would've been even worse.
Tobias quickly adjusted. "Darkrai, Dark Void."
If direct attacks weren't working, then put Togekiss to sleep and use Dream Eater.
"Dak!"
Darkrai condensed a dark sphere and hurled it at Togekiss.
"Safeguard," Gary said.
Togekiss's body shimred with a white, protective glow. The Dark Void struck, but the energy couldn't penetrate the barrier.
"Safeguard blocked Dark Void!" the comntator exclaid.
The crowd murmured in surprise. Most people didn't realize that Safeguard could block status moves like Dark Void. Gary thought the fuss was unnecessary—Safeguard blocked abnormal status conditions, and Pokémon with the Insomnia ability could resist Dark Void too. It wasn't complicated.
With Dark Void neutralized, Gary snapped his fingers.
"Dazzling Gleam."
Togekiss's body erupted with brilliant Fairy-type light. The intense glow washed over Darkrai, and Darkrai let out a pained cry as the super-effective damage tore through it.
Tobias grit his teeth. Now he understood what Ash had ant.
"Darkrai, Ice Beam!"
Darkrai endured the Dazzling Gleam and fired back with Ice Beam.
"Moonblast," Gary ordered.
Togekiss gathered a pink sphere of Fairy energy and launched it forward. The Moonblast cut through the Ice Beam step by step, overwhelming it completely before slamming into Darkrai.
Boom!!
Darkrai was blasted backward and crashed into the ground.
Everyone waited for it to get up.
It didn't.
The referee hesitated for a mont, then raised his flag.
"Darkrai is unable to battle! Togekiss wins!"
"Oh my god!" the comntator shouted. "Togekiss defeated Darkrai! The sa Darkrai that swept through the entire tournant has fallen in just a few exchanges!"
The stadium went silent for a beat, then erupted into noise.
Up in the VIP lounge, Cynthia watched the scene with quiet interest.
"It seems Gary really does have Champion-level strength," she murmured. "Kanto's League has a worthy successor."
When Gary had once claid his strength was no less than a Champion's, Cynthia hadn't fully believed it. But watching Togekiss dismantle Darkrai, she could confirm it. Togekiss was clearly at a high Champion level—possibly even beyond that.
The reason it had beaten Darkrai so decisively wasn't just the level gap or the type advantage. Gary had also equipped Togekiss with a top-grade Life Orb, which boosted the power of all its attacks by a significant amount at the cost of draining stamina with every move.
That was why Darkrai couldn't keep up in the exchanges. Every hit from Togekiss was hitting far harder than it should have.
Tobias recalled Darkrai. He skipped his second Pokémon entirely and went to his third.
"Suicune, you're up."
[Lv. 68 Suicune / Quasi-Legendary]
From his team, Raikou would have been a better choice against a Flying/Fairy type like Togekiss. But Tobias had sent Suicune instead. Despite Suicune's strong command of ice energy, it didn't actually have the Ice typing to back it up.
"Suicune, use Blizzard," Tobias commanded.
Suicune let out a howl and summoned a powerful snowstorm that swept across the sky.
"Dazzling Gleam," Gary answered.
Togekiss radiated another pulse of Fairy light. The glow pierced through the Blizzard and hit Suicune, forcing it backward.
Tobias stared at Suicune as it skidded back. He had suspected it before, but now he was certain: Togekiss's level had to be far above Suicune's.
The truth was a bit different. Togekiss's level was higher, but not by a huge margin. The real reason for the power gap was the Life Orb. Every offensive move hit like it had an extra ability behind it. That kind of boost was hard to deal with.
But the Life Orb wasn't without drawbacks.
"Suicune, Extre Speed!"
Whoosh!
Suicune vanished. It moved so fast it left only a blue afterimage, far too quick for the eye to follow.
The next instant, it appeared in the air right next to Togekiss and slamd into it at full speed.
"Tok!"
Togekiss cried out in pain as the hit connected.
The Life Orb had boosted Togekiss's attack power enormously, but every ti it used an offensive move, it lost about 10% of its stamina. So far, Togekiss had attacked four tis. That was 40% of its health gone just from the recoil alone.
After taking Suicune's Extre Speed on top of that, Togekiss's remaining stamina was close to empty.
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