Upon hearing Phoebe's words, Cain's heart skipped a beat.
But immediately afterward, he felt a sudden clarity.
Phoebe had grown up since childhood alongside Ghost-type Pokémon. Because she was born with a special power, able to communicate with Ghost-type Pokémon, and because her affinity with them had reached its peak since she was young, Ghost-type energy was something extremely familiar to her.
"When I first saw Darkrai, it was together with Gengar. At that moment, I sensed Ghost-type energy in it and thought it was an illusion, that I was being influenced by Gengar's powerful Ghost-type energy... I never imagined that..." Phoebe looked at Darkrai with a complicated expression. At that moment, it was floating quietly above the surface of the lake, with an unsettling calm.
As a Dark-type Pokémon, having an enormous amount of Ghost-type energy inside its body that did not belong to it was, for anyone of its type, an inhumane torture.
Although she did not know the exact situation of that Darkrai, Phoebe could clearly perceive that suffering.
Hearing her, Cain understood that she had sensed something.
"Cain, the Ghost-type energy inside your Gengar is extremely powerful. Compared to my Gengar, and even to my Dusknoir, its energy is much denser. It must have gone through some special opportunity, because a Gengar that grows normally cannot reach that level. It can even be compared to some very ancient Ghost-type Pokémon."
"It was precisely because of that intense density that I had that false impression..."
Phoebe seemed to have entered a special state, murmuring to herself. Her words sounded as if she were speaking to Cain, but also as if she were verbalizing her inner monologue.
She continued: "The Ghost-type energy of Gengar is already something extremely rare and special, but... the one inside Darkrai is even denser, and it is attached to his body and to his own energy like a parasite embedded in the bones."
"For him, that is undoubtedly a constant torment. I don't even dare to imagine how he has managed to endure it until now."
Cain listened in silence. He knew better than anyone that Darkrai's body was suffering at every moment; the Ghost-type energy that did not belong to him was torturing him without rest.
That was why one of Darkrai's indispensable daily trainings was to calm his mind and silently feel the energy within his body.
From the moment he had been imprisoned, he had maintained that habit without interruption. For him, it had already become part of his daily life, to the point that he had grown accustomed even to the devastation caused by that internal energy.
Now the situation was already relatively good. With Cain's help, that energy had been weakened twice, allowing Darkrai to resist its influence with pure willpower and fight freely.
Cain's silence further confirmed Phoebe's conjectures, and deep compassion began to arise in her heart for Darkrai.
At that moment, Darkrai, who was meditating with his eyes closed above the surface of the lake, seemed to sense something. He looked toward Cain and Phoebe and, for the first time, saw in her eyes an emotion called "pity."
Darkrai was stunned. He didn't know why, but he felt a warm impulse within himself.
However, he soon closed his eyes again.
When the gazes of Phoebe and Darkrai crossed, he perceived compassion in her eyes, and she saw in his something called "determination."
"The Ghost-type energy of Gengar is already extremely strong, but Darkrai's is even greater. The only Pokémon I can think of capable of doing something like this is..."
"The Dragon of the Underworld! Giratina! Also known as the Ghost Dragon!"
Phoebe's face showed shock. She had only heard of Giratina, never seen it.
Cain watched Phoebe, who normally seemed a bit absent-minded, now analyze Darkrai's condition with such precision, getting almost everything right.
The situation was exactly that; all that remained was to know whether Phoebe had any way to resolve it.
Cain had no intention of refuting anything. That she could see it proved that she truly had ability. Moreover, he remembered that the energy of Giratina within Gengar — the most primordial — had originally been implanted by Phoebe's grandparents. Perhaps, as their only granddaughter, she also had some method related to that energy.
"You're right. It is, indeed, Giratina's energy. That's why Darkrai has never been able to display his full strength. This not only torments him, it has also kept me worried."
"Although I found a method to remove part of that energy, it is still insufficient. Moreover, its effectiveness is decreasing more and more. I don't even know if I'll be able to help him one more time, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to eliminate it completely," Cain said slowly, looking at Darkrai.
That Ghost-type energy attached like a parasite was an enormous burden for Darkrai, both in battle and in daily life.
The reason Darkrai almost never showed emotions was because he was being constantly tortured.
Hearing this, the compassion in Phoebe's eyes grew even deeper. Clenching her teeth, she said, "Maybe... I can try. But I don't dare to guarantee that it will work."
Upon hearing her, Cain was filled with joy.
In the past, he had thought about going into Mt. Pyre to ask Phoebe's grandparents for help, but events had followed one after another. Moreover, after having been "deceived" by Phoebe's grandfather, Cain still felt some resistance, fearing that they might be connected to Giratina.
But this time, if the opportunity arose, he really had to make that trip.
Even if he did not fully trust them, he trusted Phoebe.
(End of chapter)