As long as Poliwhirl didn’t meet Darkrai’s eyes, that hypnotic pulse wouldn’t take hold. Dark Void gave no such opening. Once it touched you, sleep took you—no trading hits, only dodging.

When Poliwhirl shut its eyes, Darkrai switched straight back to Dark Void. Poliwhirl couldn’t see it, but danger pricked at its skin; it sprang away from the shoreline.

“Poliwhirl, watch its feet. Don’t look at its eyes…”

Poliwhirl bounded across the grass with Waterfall, eyes open now, locking onto Darkrai’s feet as it charged again.

Before it could reach Darkrai, the field filled with Double Team. Clones crowded in from every angle, and Darkrai refused to stand and trade blows.

“Poliwhirl, ignore the clones. Keep chaining Waterfall—pick them off one by one!”

This was what Poliwhirl’s Waterfall training had been for. The clones sat barely two meters apart; a few rapid hops would tear through the whole line.

Poliwhirl launched—one hop, two, three—and its fist met the real Darkrai.

Darkrai couldn’t slip away in time. It took the Drain Punch, and Poliwhirl siphoned off its hp.

The moment the hit landed, Darkrai’s eyes flashed blue. A pale-blue field snapped around it and surged outward, seeping into Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl’s follow-up stalled and fizzled, and it hesitated, its rhythm broken.

“Damn—Disable. For the next four turns, you can’t use anything you’ve already used. Switch to Ice Punch!”

Poliwhirl didn’t let that fear get a grip. Seeing Darkrai ready another Dark Void, it sprang aside at once.

Dark Void left no room for bravado. Touch it and you went down, so it had to keep slipping away.

And if Darkrai refused to trade blows, landing punches would stay hard.

It wasn’t fast enough. It needed another gear.

“Poliwhirl, dodge Dark Void and use Mud Shot!”

Reiji had read Darkrai’s plan. Darkrai wanted no exchange—only a cheap sleep from Dark Void.

Poliwhirl’s base Speed sat at 90; Darkrai’s at 125. Poliwhirl could burst to keep up for an instant, but chasing it down with fists alone bordered on impossible.

Poliwhirl couldn’t boost its own Speed, so Reiji chose the other lever: slow Darkrai down. He trusted Poliwhirl’s aim. In a real fight, with Rain Dance doubling its speed, Darkrai wouldn’t have anywhere to run.

Poliwhirl stayed out of reach, hopping clear of Dark Void while spitting Mud Shot after Mud Shot to drag Darkrai’s speed down. Two clean hits would be enough to let it catch up.

Darkrai answered with Double Team again. When Poliwhirl still refused to close, Darkrai began firing Dark Pulse—thick black-violet blasts that tore across the grass.

Poliwhirl weaved through the Dark Pulses and kept throwing Mud Shot. Overall, Poliwhirl held the edge; Darkrai’s dodges and accuracy couldn’t match Poliwhirl’s.

Mud Shot finally splattered home. Poliwhirl surged in with Waterfall and drove an Ice Punch toward Darkrai.

Darkrai tried to slip away with Quick Attack. Poliwhirl chased with another chain of Waterfall hops and landed two Ice Punches in quick succession.

Two Ice Punches, and the freeze took hold. Ice crawled over Darkrai’s body, locking it in place.

“Poliwhirl, finish it—your strongest Drain Punch!”

Poliwhirl raised its fist, Waterfall’s burst propelling the strike. The punch shattered the ice and launched Darkrai into the trees, snapping four or five trunks in a row before it crashed down.

Poliwhirl lunged to follow, ready to make sure Darkrai stayed down.

“I surrender,” Darkrai said, emerging from the grass.

“Why?” Reiji stared. Darkrai looked fine.

“Poliwhirl already broke me apart. In a real fight, I’d be out cold,” Darkrai said, spreading its hands. It still couldn’t believe how hard Poliwhirl hit—one punch had smashed it to pieces.

And Reiji understood Dark Void far too well. Not once had Dark Void landed, and Darkrai had no answer for a Poliwhirl that moved like this.

If Darkrai tried to fight head-on, it would have lost earlier. Poliwhirl’s punches hit too hard to take.

“Why do you know Dark Void so well? You dodged it every time,” Darkrai asked. “You shouldn’t have seen it before.”

Reiji rubbed the back of his nose. He couldn’t exactly tell Darkrai that, in his last life, he’d watched some legendary-obsessed trainer use a Darkrai. That Dark Void trick had been so cheap you simply couldn’t afford to touch it.

“I’ll explain later,” Reiji said instead. Then he added, “Your dodging and your accuracy are rough. Train them. Otherwise even Dark Pulse won’t hit.”

Darkrai froze. After eating several Mud Shots in a row, it had already seen the gap—against Poliwhirl, its evasion and accuracy just didn’t hold up.

“I will,” Darkrai said quietly.

“You can ask Pelipper for help. And if you want sensing drills, ask Poliwhirl. They’re both strong there,” Reiji said, patting Darkrai’s shoulder before heading back to sleep.

Darkrai could go learn from the others on its own. Reiji had no interest in explaining himself and turning this awkward.

The fight had shown Darkrai’s biggest flaw: its fundamentals lagged behind. Power meant nothing if it couldn’t land what it threw.

Still, Double Team into Dark Void made a solid plan when you stood below your opponent. It bought you chances you didn’t deserve.

If you outsped and outreacted everyone, you could simply throw out Dark Void and call it a day. Reiji had seen it before in the anime of his last life.

That guy’s Elite Four tier Darkrai bullied rookies with a single Dark Void. Anyone who dodged it at all counted as skilled.

Poliwhirl dodged because its burst speed came fast, it could sense Darkrai with its eyes shut, their levels sat close enough, and Mud Shot had already slowed Darkrai down.

If Poliwhirl still couldn’t dodge under those conditions—if it ran straight into it like Ash—then what had all that training been for? What was the point of having a trainer?

And if Poliwhirl could take down the Nightmare Pokémon, then faster partners like Scyther and Shelmet should have a shot too.

Once you could dodge Dark Void, dealing with Darkrai got much simpler. With Scyther’s and Shelmet’s speed, slipping away from it shouldn’t be hard.

Even Hypnosis would struggle to land on two Pokémon moving at full speed. You only found that opening when both sides slowed and faced each other.

Hypnosis demanded too much precision. Battles shifted by the second; you rarely got that many clean chances.

Tonight’s win lit a path in front of him. At the same level, ordinary Pokémon could beat a legendary—stamina might lag, but it wasn’t hopeless.

That meant more sparring with Darkrai belonged on the schedule.

Scyther flew straight in front of Reiji, blocking his path. It pointed its scythes at Darkrai, making its challenge clear.

“Scyther, if you want to challenge Darkrai, go ask it yourself,” Reiji said, patting its shoulder. He wasn’t going to micromanage another match.

The battle-hungry one had watched Poliwhirl beat a legendary and clearly couldn’t sit still.

With permission, Scyther darted off and challenged Darkrai.

Darkrai accepted without hesitation. Losing to Poliwhirl had exposed too many holes—its moves missed, its live-battle instincts lagged. It needed fights, lots of them, starting right here.

Everyone gathered again to watch Scyther take Darkrai on.

Scyther had watched the earlier match. It knew Dark Void demanded constant respect, and it knew how hard it was to pick the real body out of Double Team.

Instead of hunting for the real one, Scyther threw up Double Team of its own and met illusion with illusion.

Clones crashed and scattered across the grass, real and fake tangling together. Scyther’s luck ran out—Dark Void caught it, and Darkrai followed with Dream Eater to drain it dry.

Scyther lost. After that, more Pokémon tried their luck, and one after another they got fooled by the clones, clipped by Dark Void, and emptied by Dream Eater until they faded out.

Reiji watched from the side and could only smile. He turned and went back to the villa. Without a trainer calling the shots, a Pokémon lost a huge chunk of its edge—thirty percent at least, sometimes half.

Even after all that, Poliwhirl’s spot as the big brother stayed firm.

Poliwhirl had proved it could win the fight. But if Darkrai chose to run, Poliwhirl couldn’t do much. It couldn’t chase someone into their own shadow.

…

Day 43 of the journey – cloudy.

The ship reached Mandarin Island North, then sailed on toward Mikan Island.

Reiji stayed aboard. After feeding the team an early lunch, he fought three more matches. He even sent Hanhan out this time—two wins, one loss—and came out 100,000 Pokédollars ahead.

He stopped battling in the afternoon. He spent the time in the cabin with the Pokémon, letting them lie in the sun, and keeping Pelipper fed, watered, and taken care of.

Later, he met them again in his dreams, going over type matchups and having Ditto transform into the others for practice.

The day slipped by. Tonight he’d sleep properly—the ship would reach Mikan Island tomorrow.

He had no idea what waited there, or whether he’d be able to join the Gym. If he couldn’t, he’d have to turn back to Pummelo Island and look for Drake.

[End of chapter]

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