During his battle with Dakota, Luther continuously employed his own unique tricks, steering the match in unpredictable directions and preventing Dakota from ever fully controlling the pace.
Only by keeping Dakota from grasping the flow of the battle could Luther create more opportunities for himself.
As a result, Dakota had been suffering losses throughout the match.
However, Luther's opportunistic tactics were also creating instability. The unpredictability affected both sides equally.
Because of Jumpluff's trash talk, Froslass had completely gone berserk.
She wanted to defeat every Pokémon Luther sent out and personally rub Jumpluff's face in it!
As Froslass's Trainer, Dakota was the first to sense the blazing fury and violent aggression burning within her.
Luther felt Froslass's anger as well and couldn't help turning toward Jumpluff.
"What exactly did you say to Froslass?"
Jumpluff turned its head away and buried itself against Azumarill's belly, refusing to answer.
"Blizzard," Dakota commanded.
He wasn't about to waste this opportunity.
Froslass was in a heightened state. Driven by rage, she ignored her exhaustion and unleashed every ounce of her power in a fierce assault.
"Don't confront Froslass head-on. Her momentum is at its peak right now. Dodge it."
A rampage like this would temporarily make Froslass incredibly powerful. Facing her directly would be extremely unwise, so Luther chose to avoid her edge.
However, several clusters of ghostly blue flames slipped through the howling snowstorm. After Darkrai dodged the Blizzard, the flames struck and ignited him.
For her final move slot, Froslass had chosen Will-O-Wisp.
Darkrai's Shadow Claw and Hammer Arm were effectively crippled, leaving Dark Pulse as his only reliable source of damage.
Dakota was already setting the stage for Vigoroth's eventual appearance.
The current Froslass was like a raid boss with a countdown timer hanging over her head. As long as they could endure long enough, poison and exhaustion would eventually bring her down on their own.
"Rise into the air and blanket the entire battlefield with Blizzard. Gradually lock onto Darkrai and let him witness your fury!"
Froslass immediately responded, floating high above the battlefield.
A faint glow spread across her body.
She wasn't Evolving.
Rather, Froslass was drawing upon every last bit of energy within her all at once.
Azure light flickered repeatedly around her as she descended upon the arena with bone-chilling cold. Merely looking directly at her figure was enough to make the spectators shiver uncontrollably.
The Blizzard began at the arena's boundaries and steadily closed inward.
Dark Pulse shot toward the airborne Froslass, but Blizzard intercepted it once again.
As the encirclement of the Blizzard gradually tightened, Luther's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wrap Dark Pulse around yourself and form a protective barrier."
"Froslass will collapse from exhaustion sooner or later. We'll settle this with sheer endurance!"
Dark energy flickered around Darkrai's body as Dark Pulse cocooned him like a black chrysalis.
A few seconds after the Dark Pulse barrier formed, the shrinking Blizzard finally completed its closure.
A frozen winter descended upon the entire battlefield.
Dark Pulse and Blizzard continuously ground against one another at the outer layer, colliding relentlessly. The sound of dense explosions echoed without pause.
The Aegislash standing in front of the referee had already been frozen halfway over. Professional discipline kept both it and the referee in position, silently waiting for a Fire-type Pokémon to come help afterward.
The commentator's voice had already grown hoarse.
The battle unfolding before him was so shocking that he could only keep raising his volume, allowing his emotions to rise together with the escalating rhythm of the match.
The hearts of every spectator were pulled into their throats by the commentator's voice.
Even those seated in the VIP section, including Cynthia, were no exception.
Battles like this were exceedingly rare.
Froslass suddenly let out a piercing cry.
A brilliant light erupted from her body, as though a gigantic cold-air Egg Bomb had been dropped into the battlefield. In an instant, the center of the Battle Arena was engulfed in a vast blanket of white mist.
Froslass gently drifted down onto the battlefield.
Dakota rushed forward and caught her.
Ignoring the numbness spreading through his frostbitten hands, Dakota smiled at the exhausted Froslass and gently patted her head before signaling for the referee's assistants to take her away for treatment.
As the Dark Pulse barrier dissipated, Darkrai's entire body was revealed to be covered in fine ice crystals, radiating an intense chill.
At first, Froslass had fought out of pure anger.
But during the final clash of wills, Darkrai could clearly sense that she had been fighting to prove her own strength, and striving for something that was difficult to describe.
He had met Pokémon like that before.
Pokémon who treated him, the one jokingly called a "god," as a rival, giving everything they had simply to prove that they possessed the power to shake a deity.
As for that indescribable emotion...
Darkrai had seen it once before.
Back when Marill defeated Candice's Spheal.
The battlefield had been transformed into a frozen world and was no longer usable. As they watched it sink away to be replaced, both Luther and Dakota were lost in thought.
Once the new battlefield had been prepared, the commentator's voice rang out once more.
"The decisive moment has arrived!"
"After that intense battle, Dakota has only his poisoned Vigoroth remaining!"
"Meanwhile, Luther still has Chansey, Darkrai, and one completely healthy Pokémon that has yet to appear. This is currently a three-versus-one situation!"
"Can Trainer Dakota, despite being at a disadvantage, perform a miraculous comeback?"
From the audience seats, Candice and Conway couldn't help correcting him.
"That's not right."
"Luther's Chansey is frozen solid. If it can't break free, it's essentially unable to battle."
"And Darkrai was pushed to his limits by the rampaging Froslass. He's taken significant damage and expended a huge amount of stamina. Luther's situation hasn't improved that much."
Eevee could clearly feel that Mai's palm was damp with sweat.
She had not spoken for a long time.
Dakota's final Pokémon, Vigoroth, stepped onto the field.
Its constantly swaying and restless posture formed a sharp contrast with Dakota's calm and steady demeanor.
Luther chose not to withdraw Darkrai.
Switching him out and sending him back in would mean losing the initiative. Besides, Darkrai had already accumulated considerable damage. A brief recovery wouldn't be enough to solve that problem.
"Before this match began, I kept asking myself why I was drawn to you."
"Why I cared so much about this battle with you."
"I spent a long time thinking about it alone. We should be completely different kinds of people. Our beliefs are different, and the paths we're walking are different too."
"Those differences should have made us dislike each other. We shouldn't have become friends."
"But Froslass's performance helped me understand."
"Battling you allows me to clearly feel just how strong the bond between my Pokémon and me really is."
"The power Froslass displayed today was something I had never seen before, yet it emerged through her clash with you."
"I always thought that what I shared with them was nowhere near the bond that people like you talk about."
"Because I'm different from all of you."
"I can't clearly hear them."
"Sometimes I can't hear their voices at all..."
"But just now, I did."
Dakota smiled.
Vigoroth pounded its chest, its blood boiling with excitement. It could hardly wait to fight.
"You'll hear even more of it..."
Following the direction of Luther's pointing finger, Darkrai launched his attack.
At the exact same moment, Vigoroth vanished from where it stood.
(End of Chapter)
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