A game of chess in the shadows

"Hey-hey! I like that name man." Rex said honestly with a relaxed smile.

"Go on, tell us how you came to have that name," he said with an inviting gesture. Giovanni snapped his fingers and a set of couches appeared from an opening in the floor.

"AH! How convenient." Rex said with surprise and made his way to the couches. Giovanni didn't seem to mind as he had already made his bed. It was time to lay in it. whatever happened. It was too late to change anything anymore.

Spade didn't seem to mind and walked over to the couch opposite theirs and sat down. Umbra stood behind him. His gaze didn't leave Rex's figure for a moment.

The latter didn't seem to feel it at all.

"Hey Giovanni, you don't happen to have some tea do you?" Rex asked casually as he rested his head on his left arm that was on the couch's armrest.

"I naturally have some. What kind of ship do you think I run here? I might be a villain, but I still have standards." He chided in a relaxed fashion.

Spade's gaze went back and forth between them.

"Your acting is rather great. To be able to maintain such composure." He commented. Clearly not believe their little stunt.

Rex arched a brow in confusion and looked at Giovanni and then back at spade.

"y-you think this is an act? You have nothing to threaten me with man. Your strength doesn't scare me. you have nothing, nothing at all that can hurt me." Rex said with heavy traces of mockery in his gaze.

Spades eyebrow twitched heavily, and Umbra shifted instantly and appeared in front of Rex and sent a punch out. Rex didn't move at all and stared at spade with a smile.

His shadow churned slightly before a flash of black light shot out directly towards Spade's neck. He didn't have time to react at all, but umbra did. He instantly sense immense danger and retracted his punch before flashing in front of the hit.

BOOM!

Umbra shot back over the couch and onto the floor where he stayed for a few moments.

"Know your place little puppy," Rex said calmly.

Spade was stunned for a moment, a trace of cold sweat rolled down the side of his face. He was sure he just tasted deaths balls.

He was so close to dying. He then turned to Umbra who was currently covered in green flames. He was unfamiliar with this attack, but when he noticed that not much damage was done he was relieved. And yet, when he turned around, a massive grin was on Rex's face.

"Now your actually fucked." He said with a chuckled.

The next moment, a crack in space was formed and a figure walked out. He was 2 meters tall, with white hair that faded into an abyssal black as wisps of green smoke floated around him. A golden crown framing his face and a red gemstone on his forehead.

"Let me introduce you to my black prince. The lord of the shadow realm and complete legacy holder. Mordred." Rex announced, his smile getting more and more pronounced at the sinking expression that appeared on spades face.

Umbra who saw Mordred instantly shivered as he straightened his back. His eyes went wide in simultaneous realisation and shock.

There was silence for a couple of minutes. In that time, Spades face changed colours multiple times from pale white to green to purple and finally to black.

"By now you should have understood who this is right? The last remaining doom walker."

"How?" Spade said between gritted teeth. This was not the way things should be going. He was supposed to have the complete and utter advantage. Why were things so different? Why was this common trainer in this unremarkable region so lucky?

"Ah-ah-ah. A magician never tells." Rex said while putting his index finger over his mouth.

He was already half cheering in his mind. He got void burn off. Which meant that umbra's attack damage was reduced by 40%. Gaia had told him that it would be enough to increase his chance of winning to 87%. The reason it was still not 100% or even 90% was due to secret trump cards spade might and will most definitely have in the form of moves or otherwise.

There was also the fact that moves like hell's chains and hells gate did less damage to abyssal legacy pokemon. this included the status effect.

According to Mordred's explanation via telepathy, it had to do with the Abyssal legacy having some similarities with his power. Effectively making the attacks that used void energy become less potent.

But it was enough to calm his raging heart. Acting calm in such a situation was incredibly hard. But all that simulation work really paid off. He was able to stay cold as ice under pressure and won this seemingly small trade.

He could have killed spade instantly since Mordred used Hell's gate which had infinite range within his field of vision. He could spawn an attack inside his neck and kill him instantly. But that wouldn't solve the problem. He was after Umbra. He and Machamp needed the full legacy.

So if Spade died Umbra would probably flee. And he couldn't have that since stopping him was impossible. Now, he had the upper hand, as long as he injured Umbra enough to stop him from escaping, it was enough to guarantee the success of his plan.

And by the looks of it, his opponent didn't know about this almost crippling status that was applied to him. Therefore, the plan was going accordingly so far.

"You surprise me more and more Rex Pierce. But as you can see, your pokemon's attack didn't even harm mine," he said with some regained confidence.

Rex pretended to frown slightly, "I can see that. It seems my little trick didn't pay off."

"Quite unfortunate for you. But it doesn't matter, I will soon have that Pokémon for myself. Who knew I would obtain a second legacy holder. HA! Just my luck. In any case, you have asked how I got my name correct? I think I can spare the time for some quick storytelling." He said while making himself comfortable on the couch.

Rex had already told Mordred to control the void flames on Umbra and repress them. There might be some information to be gained from this story in the end. The green flames that were persistently clinging to Umbra seem to be snuffed out. Much to his relief. But unbeknownst to him, they were actually burning on the inside of his body. It would have continued to cause damage if it wasn't for Mordred controlling it not to. It became a sort of soul flame that did no damage to the physical body.

So as far as Umbra was concerned, he was fine.

Rex couldn't help but restrain a smile at Mordred's telepathic confirmation. Everything was going according to plan.