It was late at night.
When Qingyu was suddenly woken by an explosion outside while dreaming of becoming a "Gigantamax Charizard-class five-star chef, unanimously praised worldwide," he was a little cranky.
However, when he opened his bedroom door with a resentful look and spotted a pitch-black humanoid Pokémon with only its little head poking out of the floor, his miserable night suddenly became wonderful.
"M-Marshadow?!"
Along with his delight came an instinctive cry of surprise.
This was Marshadow!
Marshadow, the Shadow-Dwelling Pokémon, a Fighting/Ghost type.
As Ho-Oh's emissary and a guide for Ho-Oh's heroes, it was said to appear only beside humans chosen by Ho-Oh, quietly guiding them through their trials to become respected "Rainbow Heroes."
For that reason, humans in the Pokémon world still knew almost nothing about it. It received only a few brief mentions in scattered legends.
Of course, besides its exalted position as Ho-Oh's emissary and the leader of Ho-Oh's guard, Marshadow was also an extremely rare Mythical Pokémon.
Had he simply encountered an ordinary Mythical Pokémon, Qingyu might not have been this excited.
But Marshadow was different!
In terms of strength in the games alone, aside from Arceus, who was in a league of its own, it was probably the strongest fighter among Mythical Pokémon.
The Fighting/Ghost combination had almost no gaps in its offensive coverage, and its base stat distribution departed from the evenly balanced spread standard among Mythical Pokémon. Instead, it had a classic fast attacker's spread, taking Marshadow's combat strength to another level.
Of course, its signature move was the most ridiculous part.
Everyone knew Ghost types were painfully short on offensive moves. Many Pokémon could only use the 70-power Shadow Claw or 80-power Shadow Ball, which simply couldn't compare to types with strong offensive options.
Marshadow's Spectral Thief, however, was not