Want to read ahead. You know where
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"Mega Lucario!"
The brilliant glow of Mega Evolution still lingered as Lucario landed in front of Sam, its aura pulsing like a living flame. The air crackled with raw energy.
Hunter J's eyes narrowed, her lips curling into a tense line.
That attack just now—Lucario had done severe damage to Drapion.
Its movements were slower now, limbs heavier.
It wouldn't last much longer in a direct fight.
She was at a disadvantage.
Would you mind giving up now? After all the time and planning she'd poured into this?
Not a chance.
She clenched her fist tightly.
She'd spent weeks tracking the Lapras pod, gathering intel, scouting the coast, and preparing her ambush.
Her operation wasn't a solo act either—the entire poaching group was involved.
She couldn't afford to lose everything. Not here.
Not to some brat with a Lucario and a rogue Darkrai.
Even if she didn't care whether her subordinates lived or died, if they all went down here, she'd be left with nothing but scrap metal and a ruined reputation.
Before the League's reinforcements could arrive, she made her call.
"Salamence, use Dragon Rush!"
"Drapion, Cross Poison!"
"Target that Darkrai—together!"
A roar tore through the air as Salamence launched skyward, wings flashing red with fury.
It soared higher, higher—until it was just a silhouette against the clouds.
Then it turned, folding its wings inward.
A shimmer of violent aura gathered around its body as it dived, howling like a meteor from the heavens.
Below, Drapion's pincers gleamed with a toxic light.
With a hiss, it lunged forward, aiming to tear through Darkrai's shadowy form.
Two Pokémon, striking in tandem—J's counteroffensive had begun.
Sam didn't flinch.
His eyes followed Salamence's arc in the sky, then shifted to Drapion's charge.
J was making a bold move, but he had already predicted this.
A knowing smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
If J had chosen to retreat earlier, she might have had a chance to escape.
But now?
Too late.
And she thought Mega Lucario was his trump card?
Wrong. The real threat… was Darkrai.
Sam's voice rang out, calm and deadly precise.
"Darkrai—Dark Void! Target Salamence."
A low hiss echoed through the haze.
The air around Darkrai warped, shadows thickening like black ink poured into the sea breeze.
An unnatural fog seeped outward, curling like living tendrils.
Above, Salamence was mid-dive—no way to change direction.
A vortex bloomed open in the sky.
Dark. Cold. Endless.
From within the void, dozens of clawed, shadowy hands reached out—elongated extensions of Darkrai's nightmare energy.
They surged upward.
Salamence didn't even have time to react.
One, two, then a dozen hands latched onto its body, wrapping it in inescapable darkness.
Its wings locked up midair, limbs stiffening. Its eyes fluttered shut.
Darkrai's power forced its mind into sleep.
The terrifying aura that had moments ago blanketed the battlefield vanished like mist.
Salamence dropped.
BOOM.
The impact echoed across the beach, sand flying everywhere as Salamence hit the ground like a meteorite.
It didn't move.
J's head snapped toward the crash site, face tight with disbelief.
And Sam?
He wasn't finished.
"Luca—finish Drapion with Bone Rush!"
"Lukaaa!!"
Lucario didn't hesitate. It exploded forward, aura flaring, twin bone-like staffs forming in its hands.
It streaked across the battlefield like a comet—fast, precise, and deadly.
J's instincts screamed at her.
"Not good!"
She knew Drapion wouldn't last another hit.
Its body was already swaying, barely holding on after the last exchange.
Swapping out was impossible now.
Lucario reached Drapion in seconds, leapt, and brought both bone staffs crashing down.
Crack!
The first strike hit square on Drapion's head.
The second sent it flying back, skidding across the sand.
It didn't get up.
It wasn't fainting—it was done.
As Lucario stood tall, preparing to press the advantage, J gritted her teeth and hurled another Poké Ball.
"Ariados—GO!"
The spider-like Pokémon burst out with a shriek.
"Use String Shot! Pin Lucario down!"
J's voice was sharp with desperation.
She hadn't expected this. Not Lucario's sheer power.
Not that terrifying synergy with Darkrai.
And definitely not that Sam would see through her so easily.
Now, she was cornered.
And angry.
Very, very angry.
"Ari~!"
Ariados shot out thick, sticky white threads, webbing the ground and slowing Lucario's advance.
For a moment, the battlefield grew tense again.
"Luca, keep pushing!" Sam called.
"Darkrai—go for her!"
"Luka!"
Lucario dodged around the webs, leaping over the strands with practiced agility.
Its twin bone staffs glowed as it closed in again.
From behind, a hiss echoed in the mist as Darkrai charged a wave of sinister energy.
Its arms pulled back, gathering shadows into a single pulsing orb.
"Dark Pulse—go!"
J's eyes sharpened. Too fast. Too clean.
They were coordinated—far more than she'd expected.
"Ariados, Protect—now!" she shouted.
"Hold them off!"
"Ariii!"
A green, shimmering barrier erupted just in time.
Lucario's strike crashed against it with a loud crack.
At the same moment, Darkrai's Dark Pulse slammed into the shield, sending vibrations through the ground.
The barrier held.
Only barely.
But that split-second stall was exactly what J needed.
She turned and bolted toward Salamence, still slumped in the sand from its earlier crash.
Its eyes were tightly shut, locked in Darkrai's forced sleep.
J didn't hesitate. She reached into her coat and pulled out a metallic injector filled with some unknown stimulant—the kind no trainer would ever legally carry.
She stabbed it straight into Salamence's scales.
"Wake up!" she snarled.
A second later, Salamence's body twitched.
Its eyes snapped open with a roar.
"Go—fly! Now!"
J leapt onto its back just as it flapped its wings, shaking off sand and shadows.
She clenched Salamence's harness tightly, her eyes burning with hatred.
No matter how much she wanted revenge, she knew it.
Stay now, and she'd never leave alive.
Salamence let out a furious screech and surged upward, wings beating against the salty wind as it pulled them from the cratered beach and into the open sky.
Down below, Ariados remained, now without orders, confused and vulnerable.
Sam's gaze didn't leave J for a second.
"Trying to run?" he muttered coldly.
Let the tiger return to the mountain? Not in this lifetime.
"Luca—Aura Sphere!"
"Darkrai—hit them with Dark Pulse!"
Lucario's paws drew back as a glowing sphere of blue energy formed between them—pure aura condensed into a projectile of will.
At the same time, Darkrai raised one arm high, conjuring a rippling pulse of black and violet energy.
"Luka—!!"
"Hiiisss~!"
The two attacks launched at once, slicing through the air like twin meteors.
J heard the sound.
She looked back—
Too late.
BOOM!
The sky lit up as both attacks slammed into Salamence mid-air.
It shrieked in pain, wings twisting, body spiraling out of control.
J, caught off balance, was thrown from the saddle.
She fell.
Both she and Salamence went down—crashing beyond the trees and into the dense jungle behind the shore.
A thick cloud of smoke and dust rose in the distance.
Then silence.
Sam stood there, watching, breath calm.
And in his mind, the system's familiar tone echoed.
[Congratulations, host. You have completed the system's random mission.]
[Reward: Steelium Z has been placed in your inventory.]
[Please collect it manually.]
Sam exhaled slowly.
So it was over.
Hunter J… was gone.
He glanced at his hand, then at the fading smoke in the distance.
"If only I had a Pokémon that could fly…" he muttered to himself.
"That whole fight could've been so much cleaner."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.