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"Greninja, use Substitute!" Chris commanded.
Greninja formed hand seals against its chest, and immediately two phantom copies separated from its body, positioning themselves to the left and right.
To face three opponents, it made sense to create additional support.
Although the Origin Forme Palkia and Dialga were illusions, they weren't mere mirages like shadow clones. They must be similar to Zoroark's earlier copies—energy constructs hidden beneath an illusory exterior.
"Wooooo!" Zoroark raised its head skyward and released a powerful Howl, then suddenly lowered its stance and charged forward at incredible speed. Dark energy flowed around its body like black flames.
Night Slash!
Palkia and Dialga immediately joined the attack.
The centaur-like Palkia suddenly reared up on its hind legs, launched its body high into the sky, then dove down from over thirty meters above! A dark green aura surrounded its form as it descended.
A textbook example of Dragon Rush!
Dialga remained stationary, opening its mouth slightly as green energy particles began to gather.
Dragon Pulse!
"Engage them head-on!" Chris called out decisively.
All three Greninjas sprinted forward to meet the assault. Without needing additional orders from Chris, they took synchronized strides, spun around, and hurled their Water Shurikens in perfect unison!
Zoroark, still charging forward, couldn't avoid the projectiles. It swung its claws to deflect them, forcibly interrupting its Night Slash attack.
By then, the first Greninja had already closed the distance. It leaped high into the air, reached out with one hand, and "drew" a brown blade from thin air before slashing downward toward Zoroark's head.
A devastating overhead strike!
Meanwhile, the other two Greninjas engaged their respective targets.
Palkia smashed through the Water Shuriken with its frontal charge, heading straight for Greninja's position. Greninja activated Agility and dodged to the side, getting close to Palkia's flank.
The moment they passed each other, Greninja suddenly pivoted, drew a brown blade from the air just like its original, and slashed toward Palkia's exposed back.
Dialga's Dragon Pulse collided with the incoming Water Shuriken, creating an immediate explosion. Water vapor burst outward, spreading rapidly in all directions.
Greninja dove into the resulting mist without hesitation. Its hands moved continuously, each motion producing water-formed shurikens that it flung in rapid succession, maintaining constant pressure.
When Dialga prepared another attack, Greninja burst from the fog like a bolt of lightning. Sparks seemed to fly from its feet as it closed the distance instantly, bringing its brown blade to within mere centimeters of the azure gem on Dialga's chest.
"BANG! BANG!" Two explosive sounds echoed through the altar.
Both Palkia and Dialga were struck down and eliminated.
Only Zoroark managed to narrowly dodge before Greninja's blade could connect.
A rare hint of panic flickered in Zoroark's golden pupils. The power gap between Greninja and Tyranitar was much larger than it had anticipated.
Faced with Greninja's continued assault, Zoroark could only dodge desperately, unable to find any opportunity to counterattack.
Chris, commanding the battle, stood with his hands on his hips and a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He could already see how this would end.
Ancient king though you may be, imprisoned for at least two thousand years—no matter how powerful you once were, in this modern era, you're nothing more than a "wild" Pokémon that hasn't received proper training and can only fight using raw power and instinct.
My friend, times have changed!
I'll admit your intelligence is certainly impressive, and as a Dark-type Pokémon with illusion abilities, you're naturally cunning.
However, you need to understand that what you're facing now are Pokémon that have been trained through the partnership between humans and Pokémon.
Against the true protagonists of this world, you have no choice but to surrender.
Heh heh heh heh...
"Um, is it just me, or does Chris's expression look a bit... twisted right now?" Alexis suddenly asked without thinking.
Roy shifted his attention from the battle to observe Chris more closely.
"Ahem, ahem!" Chris coughed lightly and quickly composed his triumphant expression, realizing he was getting ahead of himself about capturing Zoroark soon.
"Greninja, finish this!" Chris commanded loudly.
The other two Greninjas, having completed their elimination tasks, immediately converged on Zoroark. One leaped into the air, continuously launching shurikens from above, while the other charged straight across the battlefield to attack from behind.
Perhaps due to the accumulated damage from successive battles, Zoroark's weaknesses became increasingly apparent.
The blade in Greninja's hand struck across Zoroark's chest, and the ancient Pokémon collapsed powerlessly.
As Zoroark lost consciousness, the surrounding illusion immediately dissolved. They were once again in the cave, with Ghost-type energy spread across the ground like a carpet and stalactites hanging overhead.
Time for the capture.
Chris retrieved a Luxury Ball and threw it forward.
Zoroark was absorbed into the device, and without much struggle, it was successfully captured.
"Got it!" Chris couldn't wait to step forward and pick up the Poké Ball.
He took out his Pokédex to examine its status information.
[Zoroark (Normal/Ghost)] (Hisui Form) (King) (Ancient) (Totem)
[Level: 90]
[Ability: Illusion (When a Pokémon with this Ability is attacked, there is a 30% chance to cause the target to fall into the Disable condition.)
King's Presence (All stats increase by 20%, the power of Normal and Ghost moves increases by 20%, grants access to special field "Phantom King Field")]
[Individual Values: HP (31), Attack (31), Special Attack (31), Defense (31), Special Defense (31), Speed (31)]
[Known Moves: Shadow Claw, Torment, U-turn, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Curse, Taunt, Knock Off, Spite, Agility, Shadow Ball, Payback, Nasty Plot, Foul Play...]
[Held Items: None]
Just as he had expected, this Zoroark was indeed an ancient king like his own Gengar, possessing unique field abilities. One small difference from Gengar was that it didn't have staged power releases at 25%, 50%, and 75% capacity, but could use its full ability directly.
This was presumably related to Gengar having been imprisoned differently.
Wait—wasn't Zoroark also imprisoned?
Well, he'd figure that out later.
Chris pocketed the Poké Ball containing Zoroark, planning to work with it gradually once they returned.
For now, Chris had one more important task to complete.
The treasure detector hadn't been pointing to Zoroark—there should be valuable items buried beneath this massive guardian stone!