The pitch-black Dark Ball, flashing with dark red lightning, touched Beedrill in an instant. A sharp crack rang out, and the Dark Ball dissolved into wisps of black smoke that swiftly, meticulously wrapped around its body, finally forming a strange, egg-like sphere.
Thump, thump, thump... The strange black sphere pulsed like a heart, sending out reverberating beats.
The azure ground and verdant sky rippled endlessly with them.
Dian's expression turned utterly grim. That sharp crack had meant only one thing: Beedrill's Poké Ball had been reduced to dust.
It meant that the protection a Poké Ball afforded a Trainer's Pokémon had been erased with ease.
Boom—
A blast of purifying power struck Darkrai directly, leaving its whole body battered as though it had been set ablaze.
Its white, mist-like mask grew thin and transparent, exposing a deep black face that warped like a black hole.
The scarlet, jagged scarf at its chest was riddled with pits, while flame-like white light curled around the black edges on either side.
Streaks of dark lightning tangled with the light, yet could not extinguish it.
Darkrai knew what state it was in, but it had already achieved its goal.
Though this was far removed from its original intent, the mistake had its advantages. Things seemed to be taking an unexpected turn, beyond anything it had anticipated.
Originally, it had intended to use the Dark Ball to control that human Trainer, and thereby indirectly command his three Pokémon.
That would have brought the situation back onto its proper course.
But it had never expected this to happen...
That crescent moonlight suddenly flashed through Darkrai's mind, bringing another wave of indescribable pain.
Indeed, its current physical pain could not compare to even a fraction of that agony.
Its figure flickered, drifting like a flowing shadow into