Reiji was copying a scene from a movie. In a place this quiet, yelling like that could have unexpected results. Whether he actually flushed anyone out was another matter, but if someone really was lurking, at least he'd be mentally prepared.
He waited thirty seconds. Still nothing behind him—only the occasional drip of water in the sewer reminding him he might just be putting on a one-man show.
What he didn't know was that, up near the ceiling of the tunnel, Darkrai had its head just barely peeking out, cold sweat pouring in invisible streams. Darkrai thought its tailing had been exposed and was hesitating over whether to reveal itself.
"My patience is limited. If you don't come out, I'm going to act," Reiji said, doing his best to stay calm. From what he'd seen in movies, situations like this always turned into a contest of nerves.
Normally, the one doing the shouting would be the first to lose patience and slink off, because it was all bluff and they never meant it.
The one in hiding, on the other hand, often cracked under the pressure and jumped out first, giving themselves away because they were guilty.
Like that, another thirty seconds passed in stalemate. Reiji swept his flashlight beam all over the place, almost catching Darkrai clinging to the ceiling.
In the end, he realized his bluff wasn't working. His stance loosened, and the beam gradually swung back toward the front as he turned to walk away.
At that moment, Darkrai's ghost-like form slowly rose out of the floor. It had nearly been exposed just now and privately marveled at how crafty humans were. It had almost been fooled by Reiji.
Just as Darkrai was letting out a quiet sigh of relief, a harsh beam of light slammed into its body.
"Uh…" Darkrai froze, completely lost.
The instant it was caught in the flashlight, Darkrai just stood there, unsure whether to dodge or leave. It had already been discovered. The human had already guessed something was there. Trying to hide now was pointless.
It regretted coming out to "prove it existed" at all. If it had just stayed in the shadows, it wouldn't be stuck in this awkward mess. And now it had been spotted by a human…
Reiji was just as stunned. "Holy—Da… Dark… rai…"
He'd actually been about to leave, but he suddenly remembered how, in movies, as soon as a character turned away and walked off, the hidden stalker would pop out behind them with a smug grin. So he'd decided to turn around and check.
And with that one turn, he saw Darkrai—and was so scared he started stuttering.
Right now his only thought was: Darkrai-sama, I wasn't calling you. Can you go back, please? Someone help me. I'm looking at the Nightmare Pokémon. The Nightmare Pokémon is right in front of me. It's the Nightmare Pokémon. The freaking Nightmare Pokémon!
"So all the nightmares I've had were your fault, huh? What did I ever do to you? Why is fate like this? I can't beat the Nightmare Pokémon—I'll die. Help! Don't mess with me!"
Reiji had no idea what Darkrai was thinking, or why the Nightmare Pokémon hadn't just vanished. Knowing Darkrai existed was one thing. Shining a light on it was another. Seeing it with his own eyes… that was on a completely different level.
But with a black cloth mask over his face, you couldn't see how nervous he was. And he absolutely couldn't show it. He was facing Darkrai, after all.
In this painfully awkward silence, someone had to speak first, and that someone obviously had to be him. "This isn't the place to talk. Whatever you're here for, let's go back to the villa and discuss it. You can understand human speech, right, Darkrai?"
Leaving those words behind, Reiji turned and left without hesitation. At the outlet, he released Pelipper and recalled Croagunk, then had Pelipper carry him out of the sewer and back toward the villa.
He wasn't sure whether Darkrai really understood him, but according to the anime from his previous life, legendary and mythical Pokémon could understand human language and communicate by telepathy.
Back at the villa, he immediately released all of his Pokémon to bolster his courage. He was about to face Darkrai, and he was on his own. No one was coming to save him.
He'd already steeled himself. He'd ask why Darkrai was following him; if there was a way to solve it, he'd solve it. If not, he'd at least explain his situation. He just hoped Darkrai would stop tailing him. Darkrai's reputation in the Pokémon world was not exactly reassuring.
He figured Darkrai must have appeared a while ago. The reason it had only been secretly following him without showing itself was probably that something had drawn it in. Until it understood that reason, it clearly had no intention of leaving.
He'd just have to face it head-on and find out what its goal really was.
People in this world were terrified of this thing, but as someone from another world, Reiji wasn't.
This was the second legendary he'd ever encountered. Compared to the first one, where he hadn't even seen a tail—just a single hair—this time he at least had a face-to-face meeting.
However, he ended up sitting on the villa's sofa for several minutes, thinking about how to respond next, and still Darkrai never appeared. He didn't know if it refused to show itself or if it had already slipped away.
"Darkrai, if you followed me all the way here, why not show yourself?" Reiji tried to bluff again. He couldn't sense Darkrai at all hiding in the shadows, so bluffing was his only option.
He was sure Darkrai's speed moving through shadows couldn't be slower than his flight back here—especially at night.
Hearing Reiji bluff again, Darkrai frowned. It knew the human was deliberately probing it, but there was nothing it could do. It had already been found out and could only slowly emerge from the shadows of the living room.
This was the first time it had met a human with such a deep, devious mind who was both impossible to guard against and utterly unafraid of it—especially that sudden turn in the tunnel that had caught it off guard and exposed it in an instant.
Since this human had openly invited it to appear, Darkrai decided not to hold back. Whether its nightmare problem could be solved would depend on this human.
"Human, you're nervous, aren't you?" Darkrai's first words, after revealing itself, were to question Reiji's attitude.
"Telepathy, huh…" Reiji heard the voice in his head—raspy with a hint of youth, the pronunciation a bit off. He didn't answer right away. Instead, he raised a hand to calm the three Pokémon in front of him.
"Poliwhirl, Kingler, Scyther—easy. I want to talk to it…"
"Polii," Poliwhirl called, stepping firmly in front of Reiji and warning Darkrai. It could feel Darkrai's power, but it wasn't something it couldn't fight. It was prepared to battle to the end.
"Darkrai, you should know your own legend in the human world. Humans getting nervous when they see you is completely normal," Reiji didn't bother to deny his state. This was his first time seeing Darkrai in person.
If he had Elite Four–tier strength, never mind a Darkrai—even if Mewtwo was standing in front of him, he wouldn't be afraid. He'd probably get beaten half to death, sure, but he should at least be able to run.
"And yet you still want to talk to me? You're not afraid I'll bring you misfortune?" Darkrai looked at how calm and rational Reiji was and grew even more curious about this conversation. This was the first time it had spoken with a human.
"Misfortune? That's for people who took something they were never meant to touch in the first place." Reiji shook his head. He didn't believe in "fate" as an excuse.
A lot of so-called misfortune came from something simple: human nature. "Human desire knows no bounds"—it was the perfect description of some people's greed.
If it was a natural disaster, then that was just bad luck. You couldn't blame anyone else for that—you could only blame yourself for not being a Trainer strong enough to escape.
The misfortune he was talking about was the kind you could avoid. Natural disasters didn't count. Reiji knew exactly how capable he was. Anything too "hot" to handle, he would never touch.
"Interesting. You're very cautious, human." Darkrai had hidden in shadows for years and witnessed countless battles—humans fighting humans, Pokémon fighting Pokémon.
It understood what that was: greed, desire, and human nature. Pokémon were no different. They fought for food, for territory, for mates. Everyone was fighting over something.
Humans like Reiji, with clear, self-aware thinking, were rare.
"All right, enough small talk. Let's get to why you've been following me." Reiji waved a hand to cut Darkrai off and poured himself a glass of water to steady his nerves. Talking to a legendary pokemon came with serious pressure.
"You answer me first. Why did you say 'You'll never succeed' in the dream?" Darkrai didn't follow his lead. After seeing how cautious and cunning this human was, it wasn't about to give up its own purpose so easily.
"I thought you were Giratina trying to tempt me into falling." When Darkrai threw the question back, Reiji realized it was on guard, too, and didn't hide what had happened at noon that day.
He knew that if you wanted honesty, someone had to take the first step. If the other side still refused to communicate after that, then fine—they'd just go their separate ways. One-sided honesty couldn't sustain such a fragile connection.
"Uh…" Darkrai was speechless. So it had all been a misunderstanding. No wonder the human had tried to kill himself—he didn't want to be tempted.
"Your turn. Why are you following me?" Reiji set his glass down and even poured one for Darkrai, though he had no idea whether Darkrai needed to drink water at all.
"I was drawn here by Gastly's evolution. I want to know why Gastly was able to evolve." Darkrai finally stopped hiding its intentions and spoke plainly.
"Gastly?" Reiji turned his head to look for it. So it was all because of this guy.
"Gaaast…" Gastly floated over, wearing a thoroughly helpless expression, as if to say that if it weren't for all that evolving and devolving, Darkrai never would have shown up.
"Right. Got it." Reiji coughed twice to cover his embarrassment. He knew he was partly responsible for attracting Darkrai and couldn't pin it all on Gastly. If he hadn't abused evolution to rocket Gastly's potential, Darkrai wouldn't have been drawn in.
"Darkrai, I can tell you clearly: you can't copy Gastly's evolution." Reiji shook his head with genuine regret. Darkrai couldn't evolve, so there was no way for it to "learn" Gastly's evolution process.
"So that's how it is…" Darkrai sounded a little dejected. It had never expected it to be simple, but it still hurt to have it confirmed. If it wanted to truly master its nightmare power, it had a long road ahead.
"By the way, why are you trying to learn about evolution in the first place?"
"You want to know?" Darkrai asked back, confused.
"Say it if you feel like it. I'm not forcing you." Reiji lifted his glass again, trying to calm his nerves. It was Darkrai's private business. Whether it talked was up to it.
"My nightmare power often brings nightmares to humans and Pokémon," Darkrai said quietly. "I want to control that power and lessen how much it erodes them. I don't want to spread nightmares everywhere I go…"
"That's it?" Reiji had been expecting something huge. Turned out it was just a control problem—power going out of control.
It reminded him a lot of Croagunk's extreme toxicity talent. In both cases, their own bodies couldn't fully bear the talent, so it backfired on themselves or their surroundings.
For Croagunk, that backlash hit its own body. For Darkrai, it hit the humans and Pokémon around it.
Croagunk's case made sense: its poison sacs had mutated and the venom was too strong, so it hurt itself.
As for Darkrai failing to control its own power—this was the first time Reiji had heard of such a thing, but it wasn't impossible. It might just be a newly born individual that couldn't yet manage the power inside it.
As its strength grew, Darkrai would gradually become familiar with and master its power, and stop spreading nightmares everywhere it went. Any Darkrai that had fully mastered nightmare power would usually be Elite Four or even Champion level.
If his guess was right, this Darkrai was still in its youth. Because it brought nightmares to humans, and was feared by them, it had been wandering the world looking for ways to control its power.
If that was the case, then things were a lot simpler. Darkrai was cautious, but not overwhelmingly so. Reiji knew exactly how to "use—cough, convince" it.
If he were dealing with a mature Darkrai, he wouldn't be nearly as confident. But this one was newly born. Saying he wasn't tempted would be a lie.
With an opportunity like this dropped right in his lap, if he didn't grab it, people would line up to curse him.
This legendary Pokémon Trainer role? Reiji was taking it.
"Is it really that difficult?" Darkrai watched him think for a long time and didn't interrupt. Only when Reiji stopped and lifted his glass again did it finally ask.
"It's not difficult," Reiji said, shaking his head. It really was simple. What he didn't say was the truly hard part—getting Darkrai into a Poké Ball.
"Really? You have a way to fix it?" Darkrai had been ready to leave and keep searching for another solution. It hadn't expected a turn like this—the human claiming he had an answer.
"But…" Reiji glanced at Darkrai over the rim of his glass. Seeing how it trembled slightly with excitement, he felt sure the bait had landed.
"But what?" Darkrai pressed, anxious.
"Are you willing to enter this Poké Ball?" Reiji set a Poké Ball on top of his glass. Whether this worked or not came down entirely to Darkrai's answer.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]