"Both sides chose to face each other head-on! Neither Pokémon tried to evade! Dark Pulse collided directly with Focus Blast, but Regirock's Focus Blast was clearly stronger!"
All of Tobias's previous battles had been one-sided stomps. Aside from losing a single round to Ash, his Darkrai had never been defeated.
His opponents' Pokémon were usually knocked out by a single move from Darkrai, but Regirock was different.
Although Regirock's base stats were lower than Darkrai's, a species and an individual were two different things.
If this had been the Darkrai from Alamos Town, who could hold its own against the dragons of time and space, it might not have lost this clash even with a type disadvantage.
But Tobias's Darkrai clearly had not reached that level.
Besides, the commentator's explanation was somewhat misleading. Darkrai had chosen to clash head-on. With Lock-On supporting it, Focus Blast had been heading straight for Darkrai from the very beginning.
Unless Darkrai used another move to cancel out Regirock's attack or used the terrain to make Focus Blast hit something else, that thing could chase its target until the end of time.
There was no useful terrain on the Grass Field, so this was how things had ended up.
After Dark Pulse collided with Focus Blast, Regirock's Focus Blast quickly carved a path through Dark Pulse and followed the Lock-On Mark straight into Darkrai's face.
"It hit! That Focus Blast... it looked so powerful..."
Ash held down his cap against the gusts coming from the battlefield. Although the final had only just begun, the commotion it caused already surpassed every other match at this year's Lily of the Valley Conference.
"Even Darkrai would have a hard time taking an attack like that..."
Ash recalled yesterday's battle. Even when Heracross's attack had hit Darkrai, it had