Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

Having successfully advanced to the finals, only one obstacle remains on the road to becoming the World Junior Championship winner: Dakdo.

Or perhaps Darkrai, and possibly Latios, or even more legendary Pokémon.

Xia Chen also had no idea how many cards Dakdo had up his sleeve.

However, Darkrod in the anime is a deus ex machina. Before the Lily of the Valley Conference, there was no such character at all, so the writers could create a few mythical beasts for him as they pleased.

Reality is logical. Maybe it is.

In short, just over three months ago, Darko was a top young trainer with nothing particularly special about him. Now, Xia Chen finds it hard to believe that he has caught two, or even more, legendary Pokémon.

Having dealt with legendary spirits many times, he knew their arrogance.

Being able to subdue Darkrai is already a remarkable achievement.

In short, Xia Chen's pre-battle plan was to face one Darkrai plus two ordinary Gym Leader level Pokémon, and at most one Latios.

If Darko can really pull out other legendary spirits, then Xia Chen will have no choice but to accept it.

You are the true chosen one!

The final is scheduled for July 11th, which is the day after the semi-finals. The one-day break is to allow both players to rest well and prepare fully for the final battle.

For the organizers, this also allows them to better promote the event and attract more people who may not have previously paid attention to it.

The legendary Pokémon and the new Pokémon were quite a gimmick, and with another legendary Pokémon, Guleton, likely to appear, the number of people who had pre-registered to watch the finals on Pixiv's live stream had already exceeded 100 million by the night the semi-finals ended.

The discussions and predictions about the match results below were also extremely lively, with hundreds of new comments appearing almost every few seconds when the page was refreshed.

While the internet was buzzing with excitement, Xia Chen was in his hotel room making final preparations for the finals with the elves.

At this moment, they are studying Dakdo's battle videos.

…………

Dacto has very limited meaningful match videos, consisting of only two matches from the first and second rounds of the World Youth Championship.

Before that, he used a common Pokémon like Electivire.

The two matches combined lasted only five or six minutes, and Darkrai only used Dark Hole and Dream Eater, so very little information could be gleaned from them.

Xia Chen watched it repeatedly in slow motion, but still couldn't figure it out.

"It's a pity. If I had been there, I could have sensed its true strength through its aura."

Therefore, Leighton shook his head with some regret.

While video can record images and sounds, it cannot record breath.

Xia Chen stroked his chin and analyzed, "At least in terms of basic abilities like speed, we can confirm that this Darkrai's strength surpasses that of a Champion."

Slowing it down tenfold, its movement trajectory is barely visible to the human eye. Without using moves like Quick Attack, even Cynthia's Garchomp can't reach that speed.

This is something that both Cynthia and Garchomp readily admit.

Above the Champion level, there is the newly established Legendary level. No non-Legendary Pokémon has ever reached this level. Even Cynthia and Cattleya cannot provide Xia Chen with much reference information.

So this is a battle that belongs only to him and the elves.

"Don't worry too much, I've already recovered to the Legendary level, according to your human classification standards."

Therefore, Leighton told Xia Chen some good news.

Xia Chen asked in surprise, "Really? When did this happen?"

After obtaining the sweetener last time, Leighton's strength did indeed recover to the champion level. A little over a month later, he has recovered to the legendary level.

Leighton explained, "The effects of the secret seasoning are not only immediate when ingested, but also have a significant impact on the body afterward. Besides, I can recover through self-healing, so I was already at a legendary level during my last few days in the Padiya region."

…………

Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise that Leton's strength had recovered to the legendary level, which at least greatly increased his chances of winning against Darko.

The good news is that Darkrai also knows very little about Guleton, while he at least knows Darkrai's characteristics, the moves it might know, and its strengths and weaknesses in its base stats.

As the Nightmare God, Darkrai's unique ability is [Nightmare], which in the game has the effect of "During battle, if the opponent is asleep while a Pokémon with this ability is on the field, it loses one-eighth of its HP at the end of each turn."

In reality, this characteristic manifests as the spirit being put to sleep being tormented by a nightmare, suffering continuous damage similar to a [burn] status.

The amount of damage depends on the strength of the elf that was put to sleep by the Dark Hole.

Simply put, this is a move that relies entirely on Dark Hole or Hypnosis. As long as you are not put to sleep, Nightmare is essentially a blank ability.

It's easier said than done; avoiding being slept with is really not an easy thing.

Dark Hole, Darkrai's signature move, is very different from Hypnosis.

The difference here refers not only to the hit rate and target of the attack in the game, but also to the fundamental principles of the two moves in reality.

Hypnosis is the release of psychic-type mental power to induce a Pokémon into a [sleep] state, but it has many limitations.

The opponent's vigilance, appropriate release conditions, distance, and even the requirement for the opponent to look directly at you are all extremely complex and troublesome constraints.

Otherwise, if you could just throw out a hypnotic spell and your opponent would fall asleep and you could do whatever you want, that move would have been banned by the League long ago.

The principle behind the Dark Hole is completely different; it directly drags the opponent into a dark, nightmare world.

Regardless of whether your opponent is alert or not, if they're facing you with their back to you, a dark hole will be thrown at them, plunging them into a nightmare!

Simple, direct, and efficient without requiring much thought.

Otherwise, why would people call him the God of Nightmares?

In the movie "The Battle of the Two Dragons of Time and Space," Darkrai displayed immense power, fighting against two legendary beings in his mythical beast form.

This demonstrates just how powerful this elf is.

…………

However, just because Darkrai was strong doesn't mean that Darkrai's Darkrai will have the same strength.

Even among different individuals of the same race, there are differences, and the same is true for legendary elves.

As a mythical Pokémon, Darkrai in the game has a standard base stat total of 600.

Xia Chen couldn't remember the exact numbers, but he was certain that Special Attack and Speed ​​were Darkrai's strengths.

The characteristics Darkrai displayed in these two matches also corroborate Xia Chen's memory.

As we all know, high attack and high speed often mean that it is fragile, so Darkrai's durability is its relative weakness.

But since [Dream Eater] can "drink blood," Darkrai is strong enough to withstand prolonged battles.

Ultimately, the key is to avoid being hit by the dark hole.

Xia Chen pondered for a moment.

As long as Darkrai isn't put to sleep, its [Nightmare] ability is useless, and [Dream Eater] doesn't heal and provides no sustain. Darkrai is just an ordinary Pokémon with excessively inflated stats.

So, how can we contain the opponent's Dark Hole?

After much thought, Xia Chen felt that the most likely solution was to activate the [Mist Field].

The Misty Terrain not only halves the damage of Dragon-type moves, but also prevents Pokémon covered by the terrain from falling into status conditions, including [Sleep].

The problem is that since this dragon god, Gruulton, doesn't have the Fairy-type Misty Terrain, you have to bring out Gardevoir or Sylveon first to activate it.

With Darkrai's speed, will they be able to drive out smoothly?

Xia Chen posed the question to the two elves, who remained silent with serious expressions.

Undoubtedly, neither Sylveon nor Gardevoir had any confidence in this.

The gap between Gym Leader level and Legendary level is simply too vast.

If you are hit by Dark Hole before you can activate [Misty Field] during a battle, losing one is not a big deal. The real concern is that Darkrai might take advantage of this to strengthen itself.

That not only didn't help, it also set a trap for Gulerton later on.

Xia Chen had no choice but to put the plan on hold for the time being.

"Fine, just let me start. Without the misty terrain, I won't get hit by the Dark Hole."

With great power comes great responsibility, so Leighton took the initiative to step forward and assume responsibility.

Xia Chen nodded slightly. The chances of Darko starting Darko were almost 100%, so there was no other way but to let Guleton play.

Ugh, if only the trainers could participate.

Xia Deochis Chen agreed with Cattleya's point of view for the first time, and thought with some melancholy.

…………

The buzz surrounding the World Youth Championship Finals continues to grow.

By the night before the competition, the topic had become so popular that it was known to almost everyone.

The two contestants, Xia Chen and Dakdo, are from the same hometown and are arguing fiercely online. You can often see debates with hundreds of posts using IP addresses like "[IP: Donghuang Region]" and "[IP: Sinnoh Region]".

The content of the debate was also very simple, nothing more than who is stronger and who is weaker.

Donghuang netizens believe that Darkrai is nothing without Darkrai, while Sinnoh netizens retorted, "Show me how you catch a Darkrai?"

Online flame wars are so monotonous and boring.

However, the debates always ended in victory for the Eastern Huang people.

It wasn't because they proved Xia Chen's strength was greater than Dakdo's through a verbal duel.

Rather, it is when a sentence expressing the same viewpoint appears that Sinnoh people are always able to fall silent and break down.

"Oh, but Xia Chen managed to date the champion from your Sinnoh region."

The match ended immediately upon hearing this.

Cynthia is the pride of Sinnoh, an untouchable beauty, and the goddess of these young Sinnoh people who love surfing the internet.

While it can't be called being defiled, it's understandable to feel a little defensive after one's illusions are shattered.

Besides the audiences from the two regions with the strongest engagement, people from other regions are also paying close attention to the finals of this recently hottest competition.

In short, under the scrutiny of countless eyes, both overt and covert, this "battle of legends" slowly began.

------

July 11, 2025 (Union Calendar), Raven City, Unova Region, Raven Arena.

The World Junior Championships finals will begin here in half an hour.