Darkrai and Mega Gengar exchanged glances.
Mega Gengar slightly opened its mouth and released a gust of icy wind filled with fine snowflakes from the air, which fell onto Mega Tyranitar's defensive fortress and instantly froze into a layer of ice.
Darkrai did not lag behind either. It brought its hands together and fired a pale blue ray at the junction between the fortress and the ground, fastening both parts together with ice crystals.
Only then did Mega Tyranitar's backward slide begin to slow.
But the temperature of Moltres's flames was far too high. Even with Mega Gengar's Icy Wind and Darkrai's Ice Beam, they could not hold out for long. In less than a breath, signs of melting had already begun to appear.
But Darkrai and Mega Gengar's goal was simply to buy Mega Tyranitar a few brief moments.
Almost at the same time, both Pokémon sank into the ground and transformed into two shadows that shot toward Moltres, who was still frantically beating its wings and spewing flames.
They arrived silently behind Moltres. Although Moltres, in its madness, did not notice them, that did not mean the wild Pokémon on its side had not seen them either.
It was just that when they were about to cry out a warning, what met them was Darkrai's cold gaze and Gengar's strange smile, somewhere between mockery and a chilling threat.
Immediately, all of those wild Pokémon felt an icy shiver run from their feet to their heads.
Every Pokémon that had been about to warn it obediently shut their mouths.
Only then did Darkrai and Mega Gengar leave them alone and continue staring fixedly at Moltres, who was still feeding the flames.
The two Pokémon did not hesitate for even a moment. Darkrai extended one hand, and a black ring appeared around its arm: Dark Void!
But as if sensing that a single use of Dark Void would not be enough to subdue Moltres, Darkrai also extended its other arm, and a second black ring appeared around it.
Both black rings seemed to possess lives of their own. They stretched out from Darkrai's arms, and once they left its hands, they merged together.
In an instant, what had once been only a black edge became a completely pitch-black circle, like a bottomless abyss.
Mega Gengar did not stop either. In front of it appeared a small sphere of light with a strange glow, which shot toward Moltres along a twisted and erratic trajectory.
One, two, three...
Confuse Ray seemed endless.
Only after the first Confuse Ray attack struck Moltres did it react and realize that it had enemies behind it.
Did they really think a single Confuse Ray attack would be enough to subdue it?
But before it could turn around, another Confuse Ray attack arrived, then a third, a fourth... one after another.
Quantitative change ultimately led to qualitative change. Moltres's expression, initially full of confidence, became dazed, and for a moment it even forgot what it was doing.
And just as its will became chaotic, Dark Void, after gathering power for a time, finally enveloped it completely. It swallowed it whole!
When Dark Void dissipated, the once imposing Moltres lay on the ground like a dead bird, completely motionless. If not for the flames on its body still flickering and its breathing remaining relatively steady, anyone would have thought it had truly died.
Moltres, now sunk in sleep, became a dish served up to Mega Gengar and Darkrai.
Dream Eater!
One after another, continuous Dream Eater attacks!
At the same time, Mega Tyranitar finally emerged from behind the defensive fortress and strode toward Moltres.
After receiving repeated Dream Eater attacks, the mental pain Moltres suffered was unbearable. The agony was so intense that it had no choice but to open its eyes.
At first, its movements as it opened its eyes were sluggish, because its head hurt too much. But because it was pressed to the ground, every step Mega Tyranitar took made the earth tremble, which shook its skull even more and caused even sharper pain.
When it fully opened its eyes, it felt that something was blocking the sunlight. And it seemed to be a rather large figure, fierce and sturdy in appearance.
Mega Tyranitar!
When Moltres's mind, sluggish for a moment, finally reacted, it already felt its body moving out of control.
It was as if something had grabbed it by one leg, like someone lifting a chick, and now it was hanging upside down, with its beak barely brushing the ground.
"Kraaash—!"
Hearing that cry, Mega Tyranitar, Darkrai, and Mega Gengar all understood perfectly what it had said.
They understood it, yes, but the smile on Mega Tyranitar's face became even more savage.
Translated roughly, what Moltres was saying was: "Stop! You lowly inferior creatures! I am a true legendary Pokémon! I will not let mere ants—!"
But it did not get to finish.
Mega Tyranitar no longer wanted to keep listening. It grabbed Moltres directly by one leg, as if swinging a whip, and smashed it hard against the solid ground beside it.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Large bird-shaped craters appeared one after another in the ground. Halfway through, Tyranitar even lifted it up in one hand to take a look, and after confirming that it was still alive, continued smashing it!
It only stopped when it felt that nearly all the bones in Moltres's body had practically come apart, and then it left it lying on the ground without continuing.
"Tyran..."
Mega Tyranitar muttered, "This legendary Pokémon is so weak..."
That sentence was the final blow to Moltres. It snapped its eyes open and completely lost the ability to fight.
Cain appeared in a flash beside his Pokémon, and seeing the ground full of pits and the legendary Pokémon Moltres lying motionless in one of them, he contentedly took a Cherish Ball out of his pocket.
No matter what, it was still a legendary Pokémon, and moreover a fire-type with enormous destructive power. An ordinary Poké Ball would not be able to contain it.
He gently dropped the Cherish Ball onto the motionless Moltres, and a red light absorbed it inside.
The Cherish Ball swayed lightly a few times on the ground. Exhausted both mentally and physically, Moltres barely had any strength left to resist and was completely captured.
"This counts as the first true legendary Pokémon I've captured, right?" Cain said as he looked at the Cherish Ball in his hand, the corners of his lips rising uncontrollably.
At the same time, Tyranitar's body off to the side also began to change.
(End of chapter)