Even though the shadowy figure frantically played its music, it was of little use after the giant soul was destroyed.
When they first entered, the cavern was densely packed with souls — enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint on the spot.
Even normal people would have felt their scalps tingle, possibly developing trypophobia as a result.
Now, however, the cavern was nearly empty, containing only Akira's group and the lone shadowy figure.
The situation had reversed — from being outnumbered, they now held the advantage.
Ding! 'Pokémon incubation complete!'
Just as the Hydreigon and the other Pokémon were clearing out the remaining souls, the second Incubation Bar in his mind reached its end.
The new Pokémon had a blue, fish-like head. Its forehead bore a massive, oval-shaped cranium. Patterns of lighter blue and red covered its entire head around its eyes.
What appeared to be its neck was actually the tail of its revived fossil-dragon lower body. Its dark green skin was covered in red markings and sharp red spikes protruded from its back.
This was none other than one of Ash strongest Pokémon — Dracovish!
As a fossil Pokémon, Dracovish is one of the most formidable of its kind.
The Pokédex describes its extraordinary leg and jaw strength, which made it invincible in ancient times.
However, due to overhunting its prey, it eventually became extinct.
Initially, Akira thought Dracovish was just OK.
Despite its ugly-cute appeal, it couldn't compete with Pokemon like Lucario in terms of looks.
But after getting to know Dracovish better, Akira came to appreciate its real charm — it went from ugly-cute to downright "cool".
The most unique aspect of Dracovish is its signature move: Fishious Rend.
[Fishious Rend]: The user rends the target with its hard gills. If the user attacks before the target, the power of this move is doubled.
As a same-type move, Fishious Rend already gets a 1.5x power boost.
With its effect doubling that, the damage caused by the move increases significantly.
If Dracovish has the Strong Jaw ability, the move's power is doubled again. Even without any other bonuses, these multipliers alone are formidable, turning an 85-power move into an impressive 382.5.
Aside from its mediocre speed, its offensive power is undeniable.
Many opponents fall to a single Fishious Rend.
Speed isn't an issue for Akira, he has plenty of ways to ensure that Dracovish strikes first.
For example, Gardevoir can teleport Dracovish right next to the enemy, or Blissey can use Gravity to slow opponents down.
Moreover, as a Water-type Pokémon, Dracovish fills a gap in Akira team for oceanic battles.
Currently, he has plenty of suitable Pokémon for land and air combat, but only Lapras and to a lesser extent, Dragonite for the sea.
Dracovish perfectly addresses this weakness.
After applying a Restriction and a Vow to Dracovish, its detailed stats emerged.
Name: Dracovish
Ability: Strong Jaw
Type: Water, Dragon
Strength: A-
Moves: Fishious Rend, Super Fang, Dragon Pulse, Crunch and Psychic Fangs.
As well as its signature move, Fishious Rend, Dracovish also possesses Super Fang.
Super Fang: The user bites the target ferociously with sharp front teeth. If it hits, it cuts the target's HP in half.
In games, this only reduces HP without affecting actions, but in reality, losing half your health in one bite would be a severe injury — potentially enough to knock someone out.
Like Destiny Bond, this is a guaranteed move — if it lands, the effect is guaranteed.
Any living creature bitten, from the weakest insect to an SSS-tier foe, will lose half its health instantly, leaving it critically wounded.
In the real world, Dracovish Super Fang is even more valuable than Fishious Rend.
No matter how much Fishious Rend is amplified, it's useless against vastly stronger enemies who might not even take damage.
But Super Fang? One successful bite means half their health is gone — the difference is like night and day.
Rule-based moves like these are one of the reasons why Akira dares to explore the Dark Continent.
There's the guaranteed protection of Protect, the certain mutual knockout of Destiny Bond and the instant half-health recovery of Soft-Boiled.
These rule-based moves are part of the charm of Pokémon.
Shifting his focus back to reality, Akira stepped steadily towards the shadowy figure.
The pawns had been eliminated; now it was time to confront the general.
Had it not been for the precedent with the violin, Akira might not have considered this possibility, thinking that dealing with the other elements would suffice.
However, after the shadow's ambush last time, Akira was certain that this shadow also possessed offensive capabilities.
This was the Dark Sonata application of Death Aura against him!
'Hmm? Not bringing them all along?' Akira strolled casually towards the shadow, Gardevoir and Gengar flanking him on either side.
Hydreigon and Porygon-Z remained stationed in place.
Porygon-Z was manageable, but Hydreigon's presence was far too intimidating.
If the Dark Sonata were frightened, the carefully orchestrated performance could not proceed smoothly.
As expected, now that its soul had been completely purged, the shadow seemed to have lost its means of attack.
Its indistinct, snowflake-like form trembled incessantly as wisps of black smoke, composed of Death Aura, dissipated from its body.
It was clear that losing so many souls had taken its toll.
Since it controlled souls using its own Death Aura, larger souls required more Death Aura to maintain.
With so many souls destroyed, all of its Death Aura had ended up in Gengar's stomach.
There was no chance of recovery.
The scene felt eerily familiar — Akira remembered the violin's shadow reacting in the same way.
Unfortunately, no matter how much it acted, the outcome was already predetermined.
Unlike last time, Gengar's role was now to clean up — to devour the Death Aura.
The offensive task fell to his adorable partner, Gardevoir.
Back then, Gardevoir had been his first Pokémon, the one who had helped him earn his 'first bucket of gold'.
However, as his team grew stronger, Gardevoir had long since lost her primary position.
Nowadays, she was mostly used for short-distance teleportation while long-distance travel was handled by Porygon-Z's spatial movement.
Offensive duties rarely fell to her, except in large-scale battles where she served as artillery support.
After facing opponents such as Brions, Devil Cicada and the army of souls, Gardevoir finally reached S-rank.
She had become one of the top powerhouses across the six continents.
More importantly, she could now unleash her dazzling Mega Evolution!
No longer confined to a supporting role, Gardevoir could now assume the role of primary attacker.
This upcoming battle against the Shadow would be Mega Gardevoir's debut!
'Tap, tap, tap...'
With all the souls cleared by the Pokémon, the cavern returned to darkness.
In the eerie blackness, only Akira footsteps echoed loudly.
Seeing that Hydreigon was still there and that Akira was approaching boldly, the shadow became more confident in its ambush plan.
At the rear, Satotz opened his mouth to warn Akira, but then reconsidered, realising that Akira didn't need his advice.
If he was acting this way, he must have everything under control.
No sooner had this thought crossed Satotz mind, the situation on the field suddenly changed.
As Akira approached within a certain distance, the shadowy figure that had almost curled up suddenly erupted with a terrifying aura.
Countless death auras swept outwards like a chilling wind as the vaguely humanoid shadow placed its hand on the harp.
A series of violent plucking sounds then followed—each stroke carrying such intensity that it seemed the strings might snap at any moment.
The force exerted surpassed all previous performances, producing an exceptionally piercing and shrill melody.
The notes reached an ear-splitting pitch, as though they were capable of piercing straight through one's heart.
This performance bore no resemblance to ordinary harp playing.
If Akira had to describe it, it felt more like drawing a bow!
Outlined by sinister Death Aura, the harp resembled a jet-black longbow.
In the blink of an eye, a mass of Death Aura materialised before the shadow's harp and coalesced into numerous ink-black arrows.
Every detail, from the arrowheads to the fletching, appeared lifelike, as if meticulously carved by a master craftsman.
A mere glance at them gave ordinary people the illusion that their hearts had been pierced.
So it's archery after all?
Akira was surprise as he watched the arrows speed towards him.
He had assumed that the harp's attacks would resemble violin techniques, slicing waves of Death Aura.
Who would have imagined an archery-style assault?
This suggested that each movement of the Dark Sonata employed a different combat method.
If the violin produced blade-like Death Aura and the harp formed arrows, what might piano or flute attacks resemble?
Perhaps sword beams or spears?
A veritable storm of inky-black arrows rained down upon Akira — the shadow's final trump card!
It had staked everything on this lethal strike, pouring nearly all its Death Aura into this single attack.
Either Akira would fall beneath the storm of arrows, or the shadow would perish at his hands!
Judging by how the Nen beast had been devouring the Death Aura, this opponent clearly had the means to destroy it.
Unfortunately for the Shadow, Gardevoir had anticipated this assault all along.
In an instant, Gardevoir's body erupted with an overwhelming surge of aura — a radiant tide that halted the dark arrows mid-flight!
Bathed in dazzling white light, Gardevoir's form began to transform and suddenly expanded.
As the radiance faded, Akira beheld Gardevoir's new form.
No — it should now be called Mega Gardevoir!
Its mega-evolved form showed few dramatic changes, the most notable difference being its lower body.
The skirt billowed out considerably, transforming its demeanour from that of an elegant noblewoman to a regal queen.
Its aura had grown even more formidable — every gesture now a perfect fusion of grace and authority. It radiated both exquisite beauty and undeniable power.
Name: Gardevoir (Mega Evolution Form)
Ability: Pixilate
Type: Psychic/Fairy
Power level: S
Moves: Dazzling Gleam, Psychic, Moonblast, Misty Terrain and Teleport.
Upon Mega Evolution, Gardevoir's Special Attack stat skyrocketed from 125 to an impressive 165!
This terrifying figure places it among the Pokemon with the highest Special Attack ratings.
With a full Special Attack stat of 165, any long-range attack from Mega Gardevoir could unleash devastating force!
"Gardevoir!" Mega Gardevoir declared solemnly, its silver-bell voice resonating through the cavern.
The pink glow on its body grew increasingly intense, as if draped in a delicate pink veil, exuding an irresistible charm.
Gardevoir, already at -S rank, temporarily ascended to S rank after Mega Evolution.
Thanks to the Pixilate ability, Normal-type moves could be transformed into Fairy-type ones.
At the same time, the power of these moves increased by 20%.
Originally a Fairy-type Pokémon, the power of Gardevoir's moves became even more terrifying when combined with this ability!
Pink sparkling powder radiated outwards from Mega Gardevoir, spreading rapidly across the surroundings.
It was as if an invisible hand was pushing it to cover the entire battlefield.
In an instant, the cavern was filled with shimmering pink Fairy-type Psychic Energy that illuminated the dark space.
The hazy dust formed thin mists in every corner, transforming the eerie and terrifying scene into a fairyland!
Fairy-type move: Misty Terrain!
The original effect of Misty Terrain was to prevent status conditions and halve the power of Dragon-type moves.
However, this Fairy-type terrain also boosted the power of Fairy-type moves slightly.
With Misty Terrain in play, the power of Mega Gardevoir's next moves reached an even higher level.
Mega Gardevoir tilted her head slightly, her gem-like eyes flashing with pink light.
Immediately, incredibly dense pink aura intertwined in the air, faintly outlining a massive silhouette.
It was something that should never have appeared in this underground space!
'That's... the moon?!'
Witnessing the astonishing sight, Pyon narrowed her pupils slightly and couldn't help but exclaim.
At that moment, a full moon quietly appeared in her pale pink irises, completely filling her vision.
Nothing else existed in her eyes except the pristine 'moon' and the fairyland-like terrain!
Fairy-type move: Moonblast!
The trembling of the shadowy figure was proof enough — this time, it wasn't pretending.
It was genuinely terrified!
Moonblast, with a base power of 95, was combined with Gardevoir's 165 base Special Attack and a same-type 1.5x boost, as well as the Misty Terrain enhancement.
This elevated the power of Mega Gardevoir's Moonblast to an astonishing level!
Despite being cautious about causing the cavern to collapse with her attack, Mega Gardevoir restrained some of its power.
As the shadowy figure trembled uncontrollably, the radiant pink moon shot swiftly towards it.
The shimmering, pristine moon seemed capable of obliterating anything in its path.
The inky arrows suspended in the air by Mega Gardevoir disintegrated into scattered Death Aura at the slightest touch.
Like a defeated army, they crumbled into chaos!
'Gengar! Gengar!"
Meanwhile, Gengar seized the opportunity to devour the scattered Death Aura, converting it into a surge of experience points that filled its experience bar.
It was clear that Gengar was enjoying the feast.
Although Marshadow looked down on it, the Death Aura from the Dark Sonata was a supreme delicacy.
The unstoppable Moonblast shot straight towards the shadow, which instantly dissipated into the bright moonlight.
The Death Aura gathered around it, ultimately meeting their fate as Gengar's meal.
Today, Akira first Pokémon, Gardevoir, had finally reveal her true strength!
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