Lune Town was even more chaotic than the last time Nova had visited.
The root cause, Nova feared, was still himself.
He had released over thirty Pokémon belonging to terrorists right on the spot, and that single decision had set off a prolonged period of chaos throughout Lune Town.
These Pokémon had spent their lives following criminals and causing harm. Most of them were not suited to surviving in the Tamar Desert that stretched beyond Lune Town's borders, so they turned to the town itself as their hunting ground. They preyed on whoever and whatever crossed their path.
Taylor's Arbok was a good example of what these Pokémon were capable of — attacking a person or another Pokémon meant nothing to them. Because of this, the streets of Lune Town had become extremely dangerous. Even experienced tour guides working under Safest sometimes let their guard down for a single moment and paid for it with their lives, ambushed by one of the roaming Pokémon.
Lune Town had always been a place of crime and disorder, but Nova's actions had pushed it further into chaos. It had become something far worse — a trap that swallowed people whole.
The gamblers who had lost everything at the casino tables, the drunks sprawled out in back-alley restaurants, the addicts stumbling out of shady dance halls — once these people were driven from those buildings and lost the thin protection of walls and a roof overhead, they had very little chance of survival. Many of them simply disappeared, slipping quietly into some dark alleyway, never to be seen again. A late-night meal for some hungry, desperate Pokémon.
It was not even safe during the day.
Nova had walked less than a kilometre into the city when his Corviknight, circling high above on guard, picked up on something wrong.
A Banette crouched on the roof of a nearby residential building had used Disable on Nova from a distance, trying to freeze him in place so it could move in for an easy meal.
Corviknight swept down immediately and put itself between Nova and the attack. The Disable connected with Corviknight instead, but that made little difference. Even standing completely still, Corviknight was a wall nothing could break through.
Nova quickly identified the direction of the attack and sent Growlithe sprinting toward the source. The Banette was already straining to hold Corviknight under Disable, and the sight of a Growlithe charging across the ground toward it with a low growl rattling in its throat was enough to shake its nerve.
It had no choice. The Banette dropped Disable, then triggered the ghostly ability that Ghost-type Pokémon are known for — its black body began to fade and blur, growing more and more transparent until it vanished entirely from the rooftop.
Growlithe was not fooled. It leapt nimbly from the ground to the roof in a few clean bounds, landed, and immediately pressed its nose to the surface, sniffing carefully and steadily.
Odor Sleuth. The move spread outward from Growlithe like an invisible net. The Banette was still close by, and the technique caught it no matter where it hid — the Identified status locked onto it, stripping away the protection its invisibility normally provided.
"Found you!"
Growlithe let out a sharp, happy bark. It lowered its head, drew on the Rock-type energy coiled inside its body, and launched itself straight at the Banette without hesitation.
"Use Headbutt!"
The Banette had no time to react. The collision was one-sided — like a compact car meeting a freight truck head-on on an open road. It was sent flying by the impact, tumbling through the air before drifting down toward the ground like a crumpled piece of black cloth. The move's raw power left no room for argument. Touching it directly meant being knocked out cold; a glancing blow meant serious injury. The Banette hit the ground dazed, its eyes unfocused. Whatever plans it had for catching a meal were gone. Now it only wanted to get away.
But Corviknight's broad wings had already spread wide overhead, cutting off its escape.
The Banette struck first, using Shadow Sneak on Corviknight. Its arm stretched out and thinned into a long, dark whip of shadow, lashing hard toward Corviknight's body.
Corviknight raised its wings and took the hit square on its chest without flinching. The shadow whip struck like a piece of paper hitting steel. The sound it made was flat and dull, barely worth noticing.
Corviknight's Steel Heart had already taken effect once, gradually raising its Defence, Special Defence, and overall endurance. It stood with quiet confidence, steady and unhurried. If Nova had not made it clear that holding still to absorb hits was a waste of time in a real fight, Corviknight might have been tempted to stack the effect a few more times just to make a point.
But Nova was done waiting.
"Corviknight, forget Iron Defense. End this with Fly!"
Corviknight vanished from the air in an instant. When it reappeared, it had already slammed down in front of the Banette. Fly was a Normal-type move at its core and would not usually connect on a Ghost-type — but Growlithe's Odor Sleuth had already applied the Identified status to the Banette, removing its ability to avoid purely physical attacks through intangibility.
The hit landed cleanly. The Banette collapsed, no longer able to battle, lying still on the ground.
This time, Nova had no intention of going easy.
This Banette had clearly been hunting in Lune Town for a while. The fact that it had come out to attack a human in broad daylight showed how bold it had grown. Nova had seen enough to know what kind of damage a Pokémon like this could do left unchecked.
Even if the people it had preyed on were not exactly innocent, and even if the Norlandia Alliance turned a blind eye to their fates, the fact remained that this Pokémon had come after Nova himself with intent to harm. That made what followed simple enough.
"Corviknight, use Power Trip. Growlithe, use Bite. Finish it."
Dark-type moves deal double damage to Ghost-types. The Banette had no fight left in it, and both moves hit without resistance.
Growlithe clamped its jaws onto the Banette's oversized head and pulled hard, tearing into it with full force. Corviknight followed through with Power Trip, dark energy curling into sharp wind blades that cut cleanly through the Banette's body.
A few seconds later, the Banette's jet-black form grew pale and transparent, dissolving slowly into the air the way foam breaks apart on water.
What remained was a single piece of dark fabric drifting down to the ground, landing in front of Growlithe.
Growlithe picked it up carefully with its teeth and trotted over to Nova, setting it down at his feet like it was something worth showing off.
It was a Reaper Cloth — a fairly uncommon item. Reaper Cloth could be used to evolve Dusclops, and the energy it held, said to originate from the Spirit World, could also be absorbed by Ghost-type Pokémon to strengthen them.
It was an unexpected find. The quality of this particular cloth was not especially high — it would be sold as a second-rate item on the open market, worth perhaps twenty thousand in Nova's estimate. Still, the fact that a Reaper Cloth had formed at all said something about the Banette. Resentment had to build to a considerable level before it could take shape as something like this. If it had been left alone, it might have eventually become the most feared creature in this already-forgotten desert town.
Could this be called killing the Banette?
Nova supposed it had to be, in the only way the word applied here — because Ghost-type Pokémon were already in a state beyond life to begin with.
How do you kill something that is already dead?