Darkrai
| Number: | Type: | Does not evolve |
Darkrai (ダークライ, Dākurai?), known as the Pitch-Black Pokémon, is a legendary Pokémon resembling a dark, sinister ghost, such as the Grim Reaper or the incubus demon. Darkrai is a living nightmare, or a manifestation of many nightmares. The top of its body is connected to the lower half by a tiny waist, giving it an hourglass-shaped figure. It has a red spiky growth around its neck and long white mane flows from its head, obscuring one of its blue eyes. Its club-shaped arms have three claws each, with parts of them appearing tattered. Its shoulders also have long tatters and it appears to be wearing an old ripped cloak or dress. It is able to extend stilt-like extensions to use as "legs". Darkrai possesses the power to lure people and Pokémon into deep sleeps and show them frightening nightmares. Darkrai resides on Newmoon Island (a mirror-image of Fullmoon island in which Cresselia resides), and on nights of the new moon, when it is active, it shows horrible nightmares to both humans and Pokémon. Platinum states that despite all this, it means no harm and is loyal to the ones it trusts. It apparently resides on Newmoon Island all by itself because it does not wish to harm anyone.
Darkrai was released on July 19, 2007 in Japan with the movie Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai, and it was released in the United States in Toys R' Us stores shortly after the showing of the English dub, The Rise of Darkrai. In the anime, it was featured in the movie Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, in which it stops Palkia and Dialga from destroying Alamos Town. His dark voice was provided by Scot Williams in the film. This Darkrai in particular seems to have power to match Dialga and Palkia, though it may just refer to this one and not the whole species. It was released again in for players of the games, Pokémon Black and White on May 9, 2012 to June 10.
It is the only Dark-type legendary Pokémon to date. Its signature move, "Dark Void", attempts to put all opponents to sleep. Its ability, Bad Dreams, slowly damages sleeping opponents every turn, and Platinum states that this is really just a defense mechanism. Because of its excellent offense, speed, and its signature move, Darkrai is not permitted in standard battling. The Member's Card item from a Nintendo Event is required to capture Darkrai. However, it is possible to obtain a Darkrai by "migrating" it over to your DS game after completing a special mission in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness, it is revealed to be the main antagonist and is the one who tried to bend the fabric of space/time through the use of controlling Dialga and Palkia. It even disguised itself as its opposite, Cresselia, as well as masquerading as the hero's partner for a short time, to aid in achieving its goal. In video games revolving around only Pokémon (in other words, without human characters) Darkrai continues to be depicted as a "villain", probably due to its dark nature, with its most recent appearance as an antagonist being in PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond.
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