The Crystal

Gengar and Mismagius's sudden appearance caught the three Malamar off guard. They had no idea how these two large Shadow Balls had appeared on the battlefield until they saw them heading straight for them.

The two Malamar with slightly lower strength couldn't react in time and were immediately struck by Gengar and Mismagius's Shadow Balls.

For some unknown reason, these three Malamar, despite having only the strength of pseudo-Elite level, were displaying the power of Elite level, but their defensive capabilities remained unchanged.

When a Pokémon undergoes a life transformation, both its attack and defense power increase significantly. However, the defensive power of the two Malamar seemed to have remained at the pseudo-Elite level stage.

Being attacked by Elite level Pokémon, the two Malamar instantly lost nearly half of their health.

Having spent two years in Arus, Gengar and Mismagius had greatly improved their strength. They had not only reached the intermediate level of Elite level but also surpassed others of their rank.

Especially Gengar, after completing a Mega Evolution with Yuga, its strength had approached that of a Champion level Pokémon. It was almost on par with the Metagross Steven used to defeat the Team Aqua Branch back in the day.

The two Malamar hit by the Shadow Balls screamed in pain and fell to the ground, writhing in agony. Many instruments in the room suffered damage due to their chaotic movements.

Seeing their comrades injured, the Malamar leader became extremely angry. Its eyes, which were half-closed before, widened abruptly. It swiftly waved its two thick tentacles and launched two enormous Psycho Cut directly at Gengar and Mismagius.

Compared to the other two Malamar, this Malamar leader was even more powerful, and even Gengar and Mismagius didn't dare to take its Psycho Cut head-on.

Taking advantage of the moment when Gengar and Mismagius were under attack, the Malamar leader jumped to the side of the other two Malamar. It used its two tentacles to lift them up and quickly moved in front of a blue crystal.

As they approached the blue crystal, it immediately emitted a soft light that enveloped them. Then, the faint yellow patterns on the bellies of the Malamar suddenly emitted a dazzling glow.

Seeing this situation, Yuga couldn't help but exclaim involuntarily, "It's Hypnosis, everyone be cautious."

The Malamar clearly had the intention of controlling Gengar, Mismagius, and Dragonite.

The Hypnosis of the Malamar was incredibly powerful. Just one glance at their bellies made Yuga feel dizzy, with a strong desire to fall asleep.

Upon hearing Yuga's call, Gengar and Mismagius quickly pulled their hands, and a burst of white light enveloped them, along with Yuga and Dragonite, creating their unique spatial move.

The light emitted from the bellies of the three Malamar created ripples on the spatial barrier of Gengar and Mismagius, but it couldn't break through to affect Yuga and Gengar's group.

Gengar and Mismagius's spatial abilities had a strong isolation effect; external forces couldn't reach inside, and those inside couldn't interfere with the outside.

Seeing their Hypnosis failing to work on Yuga's group, the Malamar were disheartened and withdrew their Hypnosis.

Seeing this, Gengar and Mismagius quickly dispersed the space. Before the Malamar could take their next action, Mismagius swiftly used a Taunt move.

The provoked Malamar felt an irresistible surge of anger. When they tried to use Hypnosis again, they found that they couldn't no matter how hard they tried.

Seeing the Malamar in a panicked state, Gengar smirked, its eyes forming crescent moons. Then, it appeared out of thin air not far from the Malamar.

Seeing Gengar appear out of nowhere, the Malamar were greatly surprised. They raised their tentacles to use Psychic Cut in defense.

However, their reaction was too slow. Gengar had already surrounded itself with a circle of ghostly blue flames. The ethereal flames lightly landed on the bodies of the three Malamar.

At such close range, the three Malamar couldn't evade Gengar's Will-O-Wisp.

"Malamar! Malamar! Malamar!"

The burning sensation from the Will-O-Wisp made the three Malamar let out painful screams. The Psychic Cut they were preparing was interrupted.

The blue flames clung to them like relentless parasites. No matter how they tried to shake them off, they couldn't extinguish the flames attached to their bodies.

After using the Will-O-Wisp, Gengar swiftly distanced itself from the three Malamar. Then, Mismagius's Mystical Fire, glowing crimson, quickly engulfed the Malamar.

After the Mystical Fire dissipated, the two Malamar that had been struck by the Shadow Balls lay lifeless. Only the Malamar leader continued to writhe on the ground, waving its thick tentacles vigorously.

As its tentacles inadvertently struck a device embedded with a pale blue crystal, there was a crisp sound, and the device shattered into several pieces. The crystal fell to the ground, emitting a clear clinking sound.

With the crystal's detachment, the blue patterns on the device disappeared, and the radiance emitted by the crystal vanished completely.

The crystal was a regular oval shape and, after rolling once on the ground, came to rest at Yuga's feet. He casually picked it up.

This pale blue crystal was quite beautiful, somewhat translucent, with a hint of drifting smoke inside, continuously shifting.

Yuga could sense a tremendous power within the crystal.

In the instant the crystal detached from the groove, Yuga noticed subtle changes in the surrounding aura, as if a repressive feeling had diminished.

What Yuga didn't know was that at the moment the crystal fell, the invisible energy barrier enveloping half of the forest disappeared as well. The Pokémon living on the edge of the barrier were pleasantly surprised; they could finally leave the forest.

Seeing the crystal in Yuga's hand, the still-screaming Malamar leader suddenly widened its eyes and, disregarding the pain, lunged at Yuga, trying to snatch the crystal from him.

"Malamar!"

Give it back! Give it back!

They could do as they pleased in the forest, all thanks to this crystal. Without it, the Malamar could imagine what awaited them.

However, before the Malamar could get close to Yuga, Dragonite, Gengar, and Mismagius unleashed a triple Thunderbolt.

The Malamar fell, smoking.

As the Malamar lunged towards him, Yuga keenly noticed that their aura had reverted to that of ordinary pseudo-Elite level Pokémon.

It seemed that the Malamar's mutation was indeed related to the crystal.

Looking at the pale blue crystal in his hand, Yuga silently pondered.