"It's Lucario!"
Seeing the Pokémon Ethan had sent out, Jorge's eyes flashed for an instant.
Back then, it had been precisely that Lucario who managed to break the illusion of his Zoroark.
Perhaps Lucario could also break Darkrai's Nightmare move using the same method.
"Luucaarr!"
After appearing, Lucario sat cross-legged in the air.
And that scene left everyone momentarily stunned, suddenly giving them the illusion that they were looking at Medicham.
Especially after a Medicham had already appeared before, that feeling became even stronger.
"A Lucario with extraordinary mental power."
"A Medicham with the fighting and psychic types."
Lucas also showed a thoughtful expression. In a situation like this, the two Pokémon truly had many similarities.
It had to be said: Ethan really was a genius. He had the feeling that something important must have happened with Lucario.
"Lucario, prepare to battle!"
As those words fell, Ethan directly closed his eyes.
Lucario nodded, released the power of aura, and connected its mental energy with Ethan's.
"Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"
The moment their minds connected, Ethan opened his eyes and gave the order internally.
At that instant, Ethan and Lucario established a direct spiritual connection, as if it were telepathy. Ethan could completely guide Lucario in battle through an ability similar to mental communication.
"Luucaarr!"
Lucario nodded. It raised its hand and gathered fighting-type energy, launching it violently.
On the opposite side, Darkrai floated in the air, silently watching as Lucario attacked.
When the Aura Sphere move arrived in front of it, Darkrai simply grabbed it with one hand and shattered it instantly, displaying without reservation the arrogance befitting a Legendary Pokémon.
After seeing that Lucario had been the first to move, Darkrai extended a hand into the void. Dark-type energy condensed and transformed into a dark ray that shot out.
However, thanks to the perception of the power of aura, at the very instant the Dark Pulse move was fired, Lucario had already calculated its trajectory and dodged in advance with a quick movement.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, Darkrai moved.
As if it were a shadow, its figure began to move at high speed.
Nevertheless, just as Darkrai's claws were about to reach Lucario, Lucario suddenly vanished from the spot.
When Lucario reappeared, it was already behind Darkrai. The Aura Sphere move in its hand aimed directly at Darkrai and shot out.
Boom!
Under the perception of the power of aura, Lucario possessed an extremely sharp ability to observe the battle!
The position from which it launched the attack happened to be precisely a blind spot in Darkrai's defense.
That caused Darkrai, although it reacted, to be unable to dodge the Aura Sphere move's attack, and its body was pushed backward by the impact.
"Was that... Teleport?"
"Shouldn't Lucario be a Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon?"
"But this Lucario's way of battling, and that way of using the Teleport move, make it look completely like a Psychic-type Pokémon!"
The spectators from the Federal League looked at Lucario in bewilderment. Could they have remembered it wrong?
"The Teleport move!"
"Are there Pokémon that aren't Psychic-type capable of learning that move?"
Not only the spectators from the Federal League, but also those from the Daleron League, who already knew Lucario's battle style, opened their eyes wide.
Boom, boom, boom!
While the spectators discussed among themselves, the two Pokémon continued exchanging blows on the field.
With the help of the power of aura, Lucario used the Teleport move with perfect precision in both timing and position.
This allowed Lucario, despite being clearly weaker than Darkrai, to have the ability to briefly face it.
"It seems that, before the battle began, having Lucario copy the Teleport move really was the right decision."
Seeing that scene, Ethan smiled. The reason Lucario could use the Teleport move was naturally thanks to the move Copycat.
During this time, Lucario had been continuously using the Copycat move to copy the Meditate move, which had led to a huge advance in its mastery of that move.
Now, Lucario could remember another Pokémon's move long-term through the Copycat move, without needing to copy it temporarily in the middle of battle.
Thanks to that move, Lucario was now capable of mastering moves it normally could not learn by itself, although unfortunately the Copycat move could only copy a single move.
"Darkrai, use Nightmare at full power!"
At this point in the battle, Stefan finally could not help but intervene.
This battle was the official presentation of his role as a divine envoy!
What he wanted was a completely one-sided battle. A confrontation that looked balanced was absolutely not what he desired.
Boom!
At that instant, Darkrai stopped holding back. The nightmare power emanating from its body became almost tangible and spread in waves.
Lucario was suspended in the air at that moment, but even so, it could not escape the invasion of the power of nightmares.
"Lucario, break free!"
Just as it suddenly felt a weight in its mind, Ethan's voice abruptly resounded within it.
In the next instant, Lucario managed to tear itself out of the state of drowsiness. The terrifying feeling of sleep invading it disappeared all at once.
"Mental fusion, Aura Sphere!"
At the same time, Ethan's voice sounded in its mind again.
Not daring to hesitate for even a second, Lucario directly fused its mental energy with the power of aura, forming an enormous Aura Sphere that it immediately launched in the direction indicated by Ethan.
Boom!
Lucario opened its eyes and looked toward the direction in which it had launched the Aura Sphere move.
At that moment, it saw the Aura Sphere move and the Dark Pulse move collide in midair.
After that, both energies began to intertwine endlessly, producing a terrifying roar.
"It blocked it!"
"What terrifying power that attack has! It truly managed to withstand Darkrai's Dark Pulse head-on!"
Seeing that, the spectators exclaimed in surprise. After all, that was Darkrai's Dark Pulse move!
"Phew, we did it. Awakening Lucario from the mental plane through the spiritual connection..."
Seeing that scene, Ethan slowly let out a sigh of relief.
Although Lucario possessed the power of aura and could resist the power of nightmares to a certain extent, in the confrontation between both forces there would inevitably be a small time lag. And the reason Ethan had made Lucario connect its mind with his through aura was precisely to facilitate control.
In addition, the reason that Aura Sphere had such power was that Lucario had mastered the method of fusing its mental energy with the power of aura. That allowed its two most powerful forces to overlap, greatly increasing the power of the Aura Sphere move and managing to withstand Darkrai's attack with a single blow.
(End of chapter)