"No wonder Phoebe said it was a bit peculiar. Now, it seems it must be the increasingly dense Ghost and Dark-type energy, right?" After this alternate dimension swallowed them, Aoki also sensed the energy changes within the space.
His psychic powers were wildly suppressed by the energy surrounding this space. Ghost and Dark-type energy were everywhere, and as the space sealed, these energies felt increasingly dense.
Aoki frowned. Although his psychic powers would be suppressed, the people of the Divine Cult would also be suppressed. Moreover, one of their most important strengths was psychic power. Such a loss of power should be more detrimental to them, causing greater losses!
"Aren't you surprised? Don't you feel that this place has a great suppressive effect on your psychic powers?" Itsuki laughed loudly.
Hearing this, Aoki frowned.
Then he saw Itsuki raise his hand, and the rich psychic energy in his hand, which was originally pink, slowly turned into a dark black color, appearing somewhat cold and eerie.
Swoosh—Swoosh—
At the same time, other members of the Divine Cult, including Bailin, all had a dark black energy ball rise in their hands.
"This is..."
"Brother Aoki, this looks like my Ghost Force energy." Phoebe looked at the energy balls in their hands and couldn't help but exclaim.
But as soon as her words fell, Phoebe immediately refuted herself, "No, no, this is still somewhat different from my Ghost Force. It feels... it feels more oppressive than my Ghost Force!"
Aoki nodded; he had also noticed it.
"Do you think that since we knew you were coming here, we wouldn't have any preparations? This was specially prepared for you!" Itsuki said with another sinister smile.
Immediately after, the energy in Itsuki's and the others' hands quickly surged, intertwining with each other to form a giant net.
Then, this net suddenly tightened, expelling everyone around except Aoki!
"Aoki!!"
"Brother Aoki!!!"
"Champion Aoki!!!"
"..."
Everyone's voices disappeared beyond the spatial rift!
Only Aoki remained!
At the same time, this net firmly enveloped Aoki.
"Is this the net you laid for me? The so-called 'net of heaven and earth'?" Aoki looked at their actions without much worry. Even if these few people expelled Steven and the others and suppressed Aoki's psychic powers, their strength posed no great threat to him.
"Hmph! It's all because of you! If it weren't for you, how could our Divine Cult have been forced to disband?! If the Divine Cult hadn't disbanded, how would we be running around like stray dogs, being crushed everywhere?!" Itsuki yelled hysterically. His usual calm demeanor was completely gone!
In Itsuki's view, he had finally found such a powerful backer in the Divine Cult and was valued by the Divine Cult's High Priest. With a large amount of resources focused on him, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds, allowing him to see a chance to reach the Gym Leader level within his lifetime!
Moreover, if the Divine Cult's High Priest Ryuu Sen's plan truly succeeded, Itsuki felt that Ryuu Sen, who controlled the Renegade Pokémon Giratina, might really be able to replace the Alliance and become the ruler of this world.
At that time, as one of the two most valued envoys of the Divine Cult, his future strength might even reach its limit!
But all of this, these beautiful wishes and aspirations, became a fleeting illusion for Itsuki, even a nightmare!
Itsuki and Bailin, at the time, followed Ryuu Sen's orders, taking some members of the Divine Cult to harass various regions, preventing them from focusing on the High Priest Ryuu Sen's true objective.
But halfway through their interference, those Alliance members suddenly received some news, immediately stopped prioritizing them, and sent most of their forces to assist at Mt. Silver.
At that time, Itsuki didn't quite understand the situation, thinking it was just a change in plans.
Only later did he receive news that it was because the Hoenn Region's Sandstorm Elite Four Aoki had quickly dealt with the Divine Cult's highest-ranking officer, Wallace, and from him, obtained information about the Divine Cult's High Priest Ryuu Sen's true objective.
He was also the first to provide aid to the Mt. Silver Alliance, and it was he who publicly sent out a distress signal to the entire Pokémon Alliance.
So, in Itsuki's view, all of this was because of Aoki!
"It's all because of your forceful interference that the High Priest's plan fell through! And it's precisely because you took such a great credit that you instantly became the Champion of the Hoenn Region! You're just someone with better luck! If only I could have such luck..." Itsuki muttered, looking at Aoki.
Although his voice wasn't loud, Aoki heard it clearly.
This person's last hope was shattered, making him appear somewhat hysterical, even starting to give up on himself, blaming all the origins on Aoki.
But the truth was, Ryuu Sen's failure had little to do with Aoki. His failure was simply because he didn't understand the situation and rashly attacked Giratina, resulting in both himself and Giratina being severely injured.
Even if Aoki hadn't rushed over at that time, Ryuu Sen's failure would have been unavoidable.
The only difference was whether the failure happened sooner or later.
Just as Itsuki was venting his resentment, a voice sounded in Aoki's mind, coming from Darkrai, who was in his shadow!
"I feel that deep within this space, there is something calling to me, and it is because of this thing that the psychic powers of these people are undergoing such a change."
Hearing Darkrai's words, Aoki once again looked at the dark net that enveloped him, as well as the energy fluctuations in the hands of those people.
The longer he stayed here, the more severely his psychic powers were suppressed. Now, even moving five meters away from himself was the limit, and the longer he stayed, the stronger this suppressive force became.
Only the energy in their hands would not be weakened.
Seeing Aoki focus on the net that enveloped him and the energy balls in their hands, Itsuki seemed very excited, as if something incredible he had done was finally discovered.
"How about it? Aren't you curious about our Dark Force? This was specially prepared to deal with you!
Don't you feel that your psychic powers are severely suppressed? Even if you use all your strength, you can only extend your psychic powers a little, and you can't feel any spatial energy, right?
Sending all the annoying guys out, there's no one here to disturb us anymore!" Itsuki admired the dark energy mass in his hand.
This was the trap they set for Aoki, because among the entire Alliance, Aoki was the strongest in dealing with the Divine Cult's alternate dimension techniques!
To find them here, Aoki had to make a move.
They knew that once Aoki arrived here, they could leave him alone. Without Steven and the others getting in the way, they could focus on dealing with him!
As a Champion, Aoki's strength was definitely strong!
But they hadn't made no progress during this time either, and with the aid of that treasure, suppressing Aoki and defeating him, burying him forever, was not impossible.
"And then?" Aoki looked directly at Itsuki and said indifferently, gently patting the dust off his sleeve, then subconsciously ran a hand through his hair.
He had spent over three months in the past, never leaving the back mountain of Fuschia Gym, so he hadn't really trimmed his hair. As soon as he came back, he ran into something like this and hadn't had a chance to properly trim it. Now, it was somewhat obstructing his vision and command during battle.
Seeing Aoki still so leisurely, Itsuki's smile gradually faded, and his expression turned gloomy.
Finding that Itsuki didn't answer his question, Aoki shook his head helplessly and continued, "So, you went to such great lengths, searching for some treasure to suppress my psychic powers, and expelling Steven and the others, for what?
Or do you think that with you rotten potatoes and bad eggs, you can contend with me?"
"You!" Itsuki's eyes reddened, and he bared his teeth, glaring.
"Originally, if you had just stayed hidden and spread rumors against me, I really wouldn't have been able to do anything to you. But I didn't expect you to actually deliver yourselves to my doorstep!" Aoki slowly shook his head, his gaze towards Itsuki and Bailin filled with pity.
After tidying his hair, Aoki calmly and unhurriedly took off each Poké Ball from his waist and threw them out, appearing completely unconcerned.
"It's not wrong to be dissatisfied with your current situation and a future you can easily foresee, and to resist. The only mistake is your unscrupulous methods to achieve your goals. The mistake is that when you had a choice, you chose the path least suitable for you, choosing to join the Divine Cult. From beginning to end, it was a huge mistake." Aoki looked at Itsuki.
He himself had no choice; he had to join Team Rocket to survive and have more opportunities to advance. But Itsuki was not like that; he had the right and opportunity to choose.
Even if he had chosen to join Team Rocket like himself, Aoki wouldn't have been too repulsed. It was a pity that he chose to join the Divine Cult, an organization that seemed somewhat anti-human.
Now he had made himself into something neither human nor ghost.
"What right do you have to speak of me?! You yourself are a member of Team Rocket! And at the time when Team Magma and Team Aqua were annihilated in the Hoenn Region, you single-handedly expanded and strengthened the Sky Team you created! Isn't this what you did by relying on your Alliance identity? What right do you have to accuse me?!" Itsuki glared at Aoki, appearing somewhat hysterical.
"Heh—I'm not like you. Don't make it sound like you and I are the same kind of people. You! And I! Have a fundamental difference!"
"What difference? It's just that you joined Team Rocket and haven't caused any substantial major damage to the Alliance yet, while I joined the Divine Cult and have already brought major destruction to the Alliance. So, we, the remnants of the Divine Cult, as you call us, are like rats crossing the street, everyone shouting to beat us!"
"No, it's different." Aoki didn't become hysterical like Itsuki; he just shook his head indifferently, "I had no choice. If I had the chance to choose, I would definitely choose to be a good person!
But you are different. You had a choice, but for the deepest desires within your heart, you joined the Divine Cult, because the Divine Cult has some special methods that allow you to improve your strength through abnormal means—the 'strength' that is so important to you!"
"So, you now admit that you are the Vice Leader of Team Rocket, and also the leader of the Sky Team, and perhaps even have other unknown identities?!" Itsuki regained his composure and asked Aoki, looking at him word by word.
Aoki looked at him with a strange expression, a mocking smile on his face that was not quite a smile.
Or rather, Aoki wasn't looking at him, but at something behind him, behind all of them, something they were blocking with their bodies to prevent him from seeing clearly.
A dark, reflective long tube.
"That's right, I am indeed the Vice Leader of Team Rocket and the leader of the Sky Team! And not only that, I am also the Vice Leader of Team Flare in the Kalos Region!
And perhaps there's something else that will surprise you: your Divine Cult's High Priest Ryuu Sen and I are old acquaintances! Does that satisfy you?" Aoki said, his mouth widening into a grin.
"What do you mean?!" Bailin spoke for the first time, her voice still as clear as ever.
Aoki shrugged, "Isn't this what you wanted to hear? Isn't that camera hidden behind me here to film me? Now that I've said everything you wanted to hear and let you film it, this should count as fulfilling your last wish, right?"
"You knew all along?!" Bailin's fair brows furrowed, and faint wrinkles appeared on her delicate nose.
"Not all along, but as this conversation went on, it got stranger and stranger, and I did notice some anomalies.
I just knew it. You guys are so fearless. Although you drove out Steven and the others, it was actually just to make me feel like no one was here, so it would be easier to trick me into talking, right?
It's a pretty good idea. Get me to talk, then play it back repeatedly on TV or online. Even my champion status would be ruined by then, right?" Aoki looked at Bailin and Itsuki.
It must be said, these two still had some brains. If he hadn't observed carefully, he wouldn't have noticed their anomalies, nor the camera hidden behind them.
However, this was in a closed alternate dimension. This camera couldn't directly send information to the Pokémon world. Only when an opening in this alternate dimension was created could the information be sent out, so Aoki wasn't actually worried.
"It doesn't matter. Just film that part of the conversation and edit it a little, and it'll be enough. No matter how high his status is, he'll be pulled down!" Itsuki waved his hand, indicating it didn't matter.
Bailin also nodded beside him, not saying anything more.
Indeed, as long as this information was sent out, Aoki would be disgraced.
"You guys, immediately go and process this information, then go to the Hoenn region's TV station and broadcast it! I want people to know that Champion Aoki, whom they worship, is actually the biggest villain in the Hoenn region!" Itsuki ordered the few people secretly holding the camera at the very back.
"Yes!" The few immediately responded.
These people, after losing the main direction of the Cult Leader, could only act according to the orders of Itsuki and Bailin.
At least with them, they wouldn't be completely without direction or goals.
Now, bringing down Aoki was their top priority!
As the few responded, a gap opened in the closed special alternate dimension.
"Hey, aren't you guys ignoring me, the main character, a bit too much? No matter what, without my help, you wouldn't have been able to film it. Now you want to leave without even saying hello to me. Aren't you looking down on me?" Aoki rubbed his right wrist.
"Ban!!!"
Tyranitar, standing beside Aoki, immediately let out a loud roar, providing ample deterrence.
At the same time, its aura also brought a huge impact to the surrounding cult members.
Itsuki's expression changed, and he growled, "Hurry up!"
Upon hearing this, those few people tried to step out of the alternate dimension, but before they could act, the spatial rift, large enough for several people to walk through, slowly closed.
It was fortunate that their reaction in stopping was quick, otherwise, the closing spatial rift would have directly cut them in half.
"How is that possible? Your psychic powers should have been suppressed, shouldn't they?" Itsuki's eyes widened, an expression of disbelief on his face.
Aoki shrugged, "Who told you that I control alternate dimensions through psychic powers? Although I always use psychic powers for teleportation, I have never used them to open alternate dimensions. I have a much better way!"
He showed off his right hand, though they couldn't see the Unown mark under his wristband.
"So, this place is now my space! You cult members always make the same mistakes.
Oh, I forgot, those people before are already dead." Aoki dramatically patted his head, an expression of profound apology on his face.
"You!!" Itsuki was immediately choked.
If it was truly as Aoki said, and this space was under his control, then these cult members inside would probably be in some danger.
Because Aoki could summon Steven and the others in at any time.
After all that, his meticulously designed plan and trap were actually so easily overturned by Aoki.
But after waiting for a moment, Itsuki still didn't see Aoki pull Steven and the others in. Aoki just looked at him with a half-smile, giving him a chilling feeling.
"What do you want to do!?" Itsuki couldn't hold back.
"I heard that to deal with me, you even found a treasure. I'm quite interested in this item, that it could make your psychic powers look like this." Aoki looked at the special energy in their hands.
It had some characteristics of psychic powers, but it transformed their own attributes into a mix of Dark and Ghost types.
"Do you think you can corner us like this?"
Aoki picked his ear, "Whether others can corner me, I don't know, but you, I've got you cornered, just for all the trouble you've caused me within the Hoenn League!"
"Hmph!" Four Poké Balls appeared in Itsuki's hand. He looked at the several Pokémon beside Aoki, his expression a bit grim.
The aura from Tyranitar and the others truly made them feel incredibly pressured.
"Alright, I won't beat around the bush with you. Originally, I really had no way to deal with you, but mainly because I had too many important things to handle and couldn't bother with a clown like you, which is why you've lived until now.
But since you've delivered yourself to my doorstep, and even used my Sky Team's banner, then there's no choice. I can't let you continue to run wild!
Do it!"
As soon as Aoki's words fell, Itsuki's expression instantly changed. He was about to throw the Poké Balls in his hand, but before he could, a sharp dagger gleaming with a cold white light was placed against his neck from behind.
The icy blade of the dagger made all the goosebumps on Itsuki's neck stand up. Just its proximity made him feel a chilling sensation.
"You! Why?!" Itsuki didn't look back, but he knew who had acted.
A fair, flawless jade hand was holding the dagger. Don't think that just because it was a woman's hand, the dagger posed no threat. This was no ordinary woman!
As if receiving some common signal, some of the cult remnants who had been standing behind also pulled out sharp weapons, subduing the people in front of them one by one.
Before any Pokémon even had to act, nearly half of the people here were almost subdued. Only a small portion remained unsubdued, but these people, upon noticing the situation, immediately retreated frantically, looking at the scene before them with horrified expressions.
They could clearly distinguish that those who were subdued were loyal to the Black Emissary, while those who subdued them were loyal to the White Emissary.
These unmanaged small fry were people neither side particularly valued; they were just there to scrape by, otherwise, they couldn't survive in the Alliance.
However, usually, the White Emissary didn't interfere with most of the Black Emissary's decisions, and even acted according to the Black Emissary's plans to a certain extent. Although it wasn't exactly led by the Black Emissary, it was pretty close. They originally thought these cult remnants would continue to act according to the Black Emissary's plan.
They never expected the situation to turn out like this.
"Why? Bailin, tell me why?!" Itsuki seemed extremely agitated, even ignoring the sharp dagger at his neck. When he twisted his neck, it left a deep bloody mark.
Bailin was expressionless. One hand firmly held the dagger, while the other directly pressed against Itsuki's back to prevent him from moving.
"Because I want to live." Bailin's cold voice echoed in Itsuki's ear.
Because all these people were subdued, the special energy net that had enveloped Aoki dispersed. Aoki saw the subdued crowd and nodded in satisfaction.
But hearing Bailin's words, Itsuki fell silent.
To live!
A simple word, but spoken from Bailin's mouth, it seemed extraordinarily heavy, so heavy that Itsuki felt breathless.
Because they were both cadres within the cult, and also the Black and White Emissaries representing the Cult Leader in the human world, Itsuki understood Bailin quite well.
Bailin was originally a singer in the Johto region, born a commoner. She would have had no chance to become a trainer, destined to live her life as an ordinary singer and end it like a common person.
But things went against her wishes. Although Bailin was a commoner, she was too beautiful, which attracted the attention of many people, not just for her singing and dancing, but also for her body.
Not only that, even the singers performing on the same stage rejected her because she attracted most of the attention, preventing many others from getting performance opportunities.
After a long period of accumulation, the danger Bailin feared finally occurred. At a critical moment of life and death, Bailin unexpectedly awakened psychic powers, sending all those who troubled her flying. But because of this, she could no longer live in that city.
However, it seemed her fate wasn't to end. Relying on her psychic powers, she finally caught a Pokémon and successfully became a trainer.
At the same time, Lance, who was looking for psychics, also found Bailin, offering her protection and a chance to live.
It could be said that the only reason Bailin continuously strengthened herself was simply because she wanted to live!
Among that group of psychics recruited by Lance, she was the only one who survived. After Lance recognized her potential, she slowly became the cult's White Emissary.
For Bailin, the special identity of White Emissary was merely a necessary means to survive.
When Lance failed and was subdued by the cult, Bailin's biggest backer disappeared.
She understood that merely being a cult remnant would not allow them to survive, so she needed to find a new backer!
And becoming the Rocket Team's Vice Leader! Also the Sky Team's leader, and at that time, the most likely candidate to become the Hoenn region's Champion, was Bailin's best choice.
Fortunately, during their time on the Temporal Continent, Bailin wasn't the only one who saw through Aoki's disguise. She had actually understood it later, just not at first glance.
So she proactively sought out Aoki, creating a fallback for herself.
Even before Aoki officially became the Hoenn Champion, Bailin had already contacted him and expressed her willingness to submit, only wishing for Aoki's protection.
Furthermore, Bailin was willing to hand over the intelligence system she had built over so many years in the cult, which spanned the entire Pokémon world.
Aoki accepted her surrender without hesitation, and subduing Itsuki today was her act of allegiance!
Just as Bailin said, everything she did was simply to survive, nothing more.
How similar was she to the Aoki of the past.
"I'll leave them to you." Aoki said to Bailin, then led his Pokémon directly past them and walked towards the interior of this alternate dimension.
Inside was the direction Darkrai had mentioned, where he felt something calling to him.
Bailin nodded indifferently, watched Aoki gradually walk away, and then gave a meaningful look to her subordinates.
"Bailing, live well!" Yishu also more or less understood the situation, a bitter smile on his face. He already knew what his outcome would be, but he wasn't afraid, nor was he as hysterical as before.
When Yu Longqian was captured and the cult was reviled by everyone, he already knew his fate. In the end, whether he could bring down or not, he would die. The only difference was dying sooner or later.
But he was just unwilling. Why was it that for the same thing, Aoki was fine, even going smoothly and now becoming a regional champion? Without concrete evidence, even if people knew Aoki's true identity, they wouldn't dare to make any moves because of it.
So he came up with this plan: lure Aoki over, then trick him into admitting his identity. Once it was released online, everything would be resolved.
He just hadn't expected that Bailing wasn't on his side.
Actually, thinking about it, Bailing just wanted to live, while Yishu's plan would make both of them lose the chance to live.
Under Yu Longqian's command, their cult had made the entire Pokémon world a mess. How could anyone still accept them?
Only Aoki, with his strong personal power and influence, could accept them.
Because Aoki's Sky Team lacked a special Psychic-type unit, many things were inconvenient. This was also because the Sky Team had been formed and grown strong in too short a time, and Psychic users couldn't be cultivated overnight.
Whether it was Team Rocket or other underground forces, more or less they had their own Psychic-type units. The Aether Foundation even sent people directly into the cult to learn.
Now that there were ready-made ones, Aoki naturally didn't mind.
And it came with an intelligence system.
"I'm sorry..." Bailing's voice sounded again. Although her expression was still cold, her eyes had changed.
...
Aoki walked past them, not caring how Bailing would wrap things up. Anyway, through the Unown, he had already taken control of this alternate dimension; it couldn't escape his grasp.
Compared to the fate of these cult members, Aoki was more concerned about what Darkrai had said.
It should be because of this thing that their Psychic abilities could undergo a transformation.
Darkrai slowly emerged from Aoki's shadow.
Now, Darkrai's entire appearance and aura had undergone a significant change, looking more confident, and its aura was very stable.
After a period of effort, the Giratina Ghost-type energy within Darkrai had almost been worn away by its own efforts. Only a very small, stubborn portion remained, but these no longer had much impact on its overall combat power.
Darkrai had almost restored its strength to its peak from back then. Next, it was time for it to push towards becoming even stronger!
And for something to have such great appeal to it, even at its current strength, it showed that Yishu and the others had truly found an incredible treasure. Perhaps even they themselves didn't know what they had found.
They just felt that by relying on this thing, they could suppress Aoki's Psychic power, thereby trapping him alone in an alternate dimension, giving them a chance to trick some information out of him!
Clatter—
Aoki looked at a dark, black gem floating in front of him.
It looked somewhat like a very high-quality Dusk Stone.
However, even a top-quality Dusk Stone wouldn't pique Darkrai's interest now.
"What is this... thing..." Aoki reached out his hand towards the black stone floating in mid-air.
But as soon as he got close, he felt a clear stinging sensation on his skin, a feeling of the purest corrosion.
Even when he enveloped his hand in Psychic energy, he felt the Psychic energy on his hand being furiously eroded.
Not only that, these eroded Psychic energies even felt like they wanted to assimilate. If he were to directly grab it, the Psychic energy on his body would transform into the special Shadow Force, just like Yishu and the others. However, this wasn't permanent; it would slowly recover after some time.
It was just that this stone's restraint on Psychic-type energy was real.
Aoki narrowed his eyes, looking at it. Only Darkrai beside him had a hesitant expression.
Aoki smiled, "What's wrong? Darkrai, does this thing really have such a great appeal to you?"
"Quark—" Darkrai nodded. The desire for it was almost bursting from its eyes.
"Most of it is Dark-type energy, but within these Dark-type energies, there are also some entangled Ghost-type energies. They don't counteract each other; instead, they're somewhat similar to your current internal situation," Aoki said, looking at Darkrai.
Hearing this, Darkrai also nodded.
It just felt that if it could obtain this stone, it would bring it great benefits! It was the purest instinct within a Pokémon's body, like the desire of a wild beast.
Aoki's thoughts stirred. He suddenly thought of something very similar to this stone, but it had always been considered a legend before. He hadn't expected to actually see it one day.
"Nightmare... God Stone?" Aoki muttered. He was still unsure if such a thing truly existed in this Pokémon world.
Watching Darkrai's increasing inability to restrain itself, Aoki frowned, "Darkrai, hold on."
Hearing Aoki's words, Darkrai managed to rein in its gaze with difficulty and nodded.
Not long after, Bailing led some of the cult remnants to Aoki's back, kneeling on one knee, "Lord Aoki !"
Aoki naturally didn't trust Bailing's surrender at first, so even though he could have found and dealt with Yishu and the others through Bailing, he didn't do so.
But upon arriving at Twilight Town this time, Aoki received the message Bailing had left for him outside, so he chose to trust her once and give her a chance.
Anyway, even without her, Aoki was confident he could deal with everyone here.
"Hmm, get up." He slowly nodded, "Tell me, where did you find this stone?"
"Yishu found it. I don't know exactly where, but as long as you hold this stone, a Psychic user's Psychic power can change. However, it's only a temporary change; after a long time, it will revert," Bailing said respectfully.
"For safety, please bear with it for a moment and don't resist." Saying this, Aoki extended his right hand, enveloped in Psychic energy, and directly placed it on Bailing's forehead.
Bailing watched Aoki's palm getting closer. As a woman, her instinct was to use Psychic power to resist, but her rationality told her not to.
So she released all resistance, allowing Aoki to plant a fully controlled Psychic seed in her mind.
From then on, Bailing became Aoki's subordinate and was very likely to become the captain of the Sky Team's Psychic unit in the Hoenn region, one of the Sky Team's executives.
After planting the Psychic seed, Aoki knew that she hadn't lied. The source of this stone was known only to Yishu, but Aoki felt that even if Yishu knew, he wouldn't tell him.
He nodded to Darkrai.
Seeing Aoki finally allowing it to touch the dark, black stone, Darkrai didn't hesitate, directly reaching out and grabbing the stone.
Whoosh—
A large amount of dark, black, flame-like energy rose from Darkrai's body, as if enveloping it entirely in flames.
"Quark!!!" Darkrai cried out frantically.
Aoki's expression suddenly changed, and he exclaimed, "Darkrai!"
But before he could get close, the flame-like energy produced a powerful corrosive effect on him. Even with Psychic energy enveloping him, he couldn't get near.
However, what relieved Aoki slightly was that Darkrai stopped after its first painful roar.
Even when removing the Ghost-type energy from its body, Darkrai had never shown such pain. This showed that just the initial contact made it cry out in agony.
But when Darkrai couldn't help but open its hands, the black stone in its hands had completely disappeared.
Gradually, Darkrai began to stabilize.
But the black, flame-like substance on its body grew more and more intense.
However, as the flames gradually burned, the Ghost-type energy on Darkrai's body gradually disappeared.
After burning away the Ghost-type energy, what remained was only Dark-type energy.
After completely removing the Ghost-type energy, Darkrai would be able to restore its strength to its absolute peak.
Having finally calmed down, Aoki's eyes suddenly widened again.
It wasn't because of Darkrai's energy changes, nor its level changes, but because its aura was getting closer and closer to that of Tyranitar.
The aura of a Legendary Pokémon!
From Tyranitar back then, to Magearna recently, Aoki was now very familiar with this energy fluctuation!
The aura of a Legendary Pokémon!
Was his Darkrai going to become a true Legendary Pokémon?!
To become the true Darkrai!
From Darkrai's own words and from the grandfather of Phoebe back then, he had learned information about Darkrai. To this day, this type of Legendary Pokémon, Darkrai, has not yet truly become a Legendary Pokémon!
In other words, their divine positions are still vacant to this day.
Then, his Darkrai definitely has a chance!
The aura of a Legendary Pokémon grew stronger and stronger. This oppressive aura was much more oppressive than when Magearna's divine position descended back then.
But when this aura soared to its peak, it suddenly stopped, then rapidly declined, finally slowly returning to calm, with only a trace of aura remaining, just like Tyranitar.
Bailing and the others standing behind Aoki stared blankly at Darkrai.
Although they didn't know what had just happened, that aura just now was definitely not fake; it was terrifying!
It was even more oppressive than the pressure Yu Longqian's Pokémon had given them back then!!
In that instant, Bailing suddenly felt that following Aoki might not be a bad thing after all!
Before, she had contacted Aoki out of necessity, just to leave herself a way out.
But now, she felt differently.
At the very least, this strength could absolutely protect them, and his own influence was not small, controlling both the light and dark sides in the Hoenn region!
Almost no one could influence him in the Hoenn region anymore.
Calling him all-powerful wouldn't be an exaggeration!
His strength made Bailing and the others feel daunted.
She was somewhat fortunate not to have been like Yishu, trying to hit a rock with an egg.