Darkrai (Pokémon)

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Darkrai (Japanese: ダークライ Darkrai) is a Mythical Pokémon introduced in Generation IV.
It is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon.
It was officially revealed in February 2007.
It is a member of the lunar duo with .
Darkrai is the last Pokémon in the Hisui Pokédex.
==Biology==
Darkrai is a black, shadow-like . It has a small head with a white fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also has a red spiky growth around its neck. It has skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders. It also has black, claw-like hands. It has the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appears to be wearing an old, ripped cloak. It normally does not have any sort of legs, but it is able to extend stilt-like appendages in their place. In self-defense, Darkrai can retract its head and white "plume" into the pit atop its torso fringed by the aforementioned red growth.
Darkrai is known to "inhabit" dreams and causes the target to have unending nightmares, which can be stopped if exposed to a Lunar Feather from . However, the "unleashing of nightmares" is actually a defense mechanism, instead of an intentionally malicious act. Darkrai is capable of flying at high speeds, and it can become a shadow in order to escape danger or contact with humans. It is also capable of some human speech. In The Rise of Darkrai, it was shown its power was weaker than that of and . Its relationship to its counterpart, Cresselia, can vary between individuals and canons, with some being antagonistic, as seen Sleepless In Pre-Battle! and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky, or cooperative, as seen in Nightfall? Nightmares! and A Midsummer Night's Light!. As seen in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!, Darkrai does not only cause nightmares; it is also attracted to them. It can also go around objects it is attracted to several times, as seen in the mentioned episode and Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. Shadows of Almia also reveal Darkrai can use an ability called Dark Power to either trap humans or Pokémon in a Dark Void dimension of total darkness or teleport them to another location. Darkrai is said to be active on nights of the new moon. Darkrai possibly feeds off dreams, characterized by its association with never-ending nightmares.
Darkrai is the only known Pokémon capable of learning the move . It is also the only known Pokémon that can have as an Ability.
==Game data==
===NPC appearances===
* : is revealed to be the main antagonist of the game in the post-game story. He wants to cover the world in darkness, and was behind the collapse of the Temporal Tower and 's corruption into Primal Dialga in the main storyline of the game. His interference is also the reason the player was separated from and turned into a Pokémon. In the post-game story, he turns his attention to distorting the fabric of space to cover the world in darkness.
* PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond: Darkrai is the main antagonist in the game. He resided in Wish Park and wants to merge the Wish Park with PokéPark. When the Dark Vortex threatens to destroy both dimensions, Darkrai sacrifices himself to stop it, but is later brought back by and during the post-game.
* Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Darkrai is the final boss, summoned by Blake Hall.
===Pokédex entries===
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===Game locations===
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====In side games====
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====In events====
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=====In-game events=====
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===Held items===
===Stats===
====Base stats====
====Pokéathlon stats====
===Type effectiveness===
===Learnset===
====By leveling up====
====By TM====
====By ====
===Side game data===
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===Evolution data===
===Sprites===
==In animation==
===Main series===
====Major appearances====
=====Darkrai (M10)=====
Darkrai debuted in The Rise of Darkrai as a protagonist. It took the task of holding off the fighting between and until and could put the Oración disk in the Space-Time Towers music player to calm the two Legendary Pokémon down. It reappeared in a cameo in the ending credits of Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
====Darkrai (recurring)====
A Darkrai appeared in Nightfall? Nightmares! and A Midsummer Night's Light!, where it was a target of Matori and the Matori Matrix, along with .
Darkrai's known moves are and , and its Ability is .
=====Other=====
Darkrai made its animated series debut in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!. Unlike the Darkrai in The Rise of Darkrai, this Darkrai was maliciously causing nightmares, much like the one in the . According to Officer Jenny, it comes at a certain time every year. In the episode, however, it came earlier due to it being lured out by 's machine, which was also causing nightmares. Cresselia is normally in the same place as Darkrai to stop it from giving nightmares, but due to Darkrai's early arrival, the people in Canalave City had nightmares for several days. One night, it was concealing itself when used its abilities to reveal it from the darkness. The two then battled and Darkrai hid itself once more in the shadows.
In League Unleashed!, a mysterious competed in the Lily of the Valley Conference with a Darkrai. In the following episode, Conway revealed that the Trainer, , had easily defeated eight Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region using only Darkrai. In the Sinnoh League semifinals, this Darkrai was used against Ash, where it easily defeated , , and . However, it was defeated by Ash's Sceptile in The Semi-Final Frontier!.
In Pikachu, What's This Key?, , , and visited a Darkrai courtesy of 's keys. Darkrai scared them out of a dark world in which it resided.
In Dream a Little Dream from Me!, a Darkrai was the source of , Meowth, and Squishy's nightmare. Darkrai eventually left as soon as it was spotted by Ash and his friends.
====Minor appearances====
A Darkrai appeared in the opening sequence of Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel.
====Pokédex entries====
===GOTCHA!===
A Darkrai briefly appeared as a silhouette in GOTCHA!.
==In the manga==
===Pokémon Ranger: The Comic – Shadows of Almia===
Darkrai plays a major role in Pokémon Ranger: The Comic – Shadows of Almia.
===Movie adaptations===
Darkrai plays a major role in the of The Rise of Darkrai.
===Phantom Thief Pokémon 7===
A Darkrai has a recurring role in Phantom Thief Pokémon 7.
===Pocket Monsters DP===
A Darkrai appeared in PMDP19.
A Darkrai appeared in PMDP29.
===Pokémon Adventures===
In Phew for Mew, Sird let out a beam of light from a in an attempt to recapture . When 's attack collided with the beam, it caused , , , , and to turn to stone. In Double Trouble with Dialga and Palkia IV, the beam was revealed to have been Darkrai. In The Final Dimensional Duel VIII, Sird was revealed to have it into the Distortion World, where it clashed with Palmer's and was briefly controlled by Charon. After escaping from 's realm, it left to parts unknown.
A Darkrai appeared as a silhouette in a fantasy in Unplugging Rotom (Heat, Wash, Mow, Fan, Frost).
==In the TCG==
==Other appearances==
===Super Smash Bros. Brawl===
Darkrai appears as a trophy.
====Trophy information====
A Pitch-Black Pokémon. It becomes active on nights of the new moon. This legendary Pokémon has the power to lull people to sleep and fill their heads with dreams. Proverbs say that Darkrai will make people have terrifying dreams on moonless nights. A Pokémon, Darkrai uses the move, along with , which stops foes from using held items.
===Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U===
Darkrai appears as a Pokémon. It puts fighters to sleep and damages them by using . It also appears as a trophy in both versions of the game.
====Trophy information====
NA: This Dark-type Pokémon can cause people and other Pokémon to experience nightmares. While it is floating in the air, it tucks its legs in so far, it looks like they vanish! In battle it will use a move called Dark Void, which sucks in surrounding opponents and puts them into a deep sleep. 
PAl: A Pokémon shrouded in mystery, Darkrai has the ability to implant nightmares into the minds of both humans and Pokémon. It has legs, but seems to prefer to float in the air. Its favourite move in this game is Dark Void. When this attack hits something, it creates a vortex that sucks in fighters and puts them to sleep.
===Pokkén Tournament===
Darkrai is a Battle Pokémon in the arcade and Nintendo Switch versions of Pokkén Tournament. Its moves include , , , , , and . During Synergy Burst, it can use the Burst Attack Infinite Eclipse.
===Super Smash Bros. Ultimate===
Darkrai returns as a Poké Ball summon. As before, it uses Dark Void, which puts foes to sleep and damages them. Darkrai also appears as a .
=== Pokémon UNITE ===
Darkrai is playable through obtaining a Unite License. It is a melee Speedster.
==Trivia==
* Darkrai's effort value yield of 2 and 1 is unique.
* Darkrai has two different portrait pictures in both , and .
* Sailor Eldritch's son says "<sc>Dar... Dark...</sc> Is watching me..." in his sleep before the cures his nightmare. It is assumed that he is talking about Darkrai, as it is known to give its victims horrific nightmares.
* In the early Japanese versions of , Darkrai can be caught with the Surf glitch. However, this glitch was fixed in other language versions. Another glitch has been discovered that allows players of other language releases to reach Darkrai without the Member Card.
** This has been remedied in , however, as Darkrai itself will not appear on the island without the event ticket.
* Darkrai was designed by Hironobu Yoshida.2014 Pokémon World Championships VIPs | The Official Pokémon Website
* In and , Darkrai is the only non-Ghost type Pokémon capable of traveling through walls and all other terrain types without the All-Terrain Hiker IQ skill.
* Despite being a gender-unknown Pokémon, the in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness, and Explorers of Sky is referred to as a male.
===Origin===
Darkrai's appearance and abilities suggest it is based on the concept of s or a . Resembling a , it may also have been inspired by the , the Greek god , s (or ), or the , namely . It may also be based on the from Slavic folklore, an evil spirit that torments children with horrible nightmares, slowly draining them of their life energy with each passing night. Supposedly, the only way to protect oneself from a nocnitsa is by placing a knife or special stone underneath a pillow, similar to how victims of Darkrai's nightmares can only be woken up with the Lunar Feather. In contrast to its counterpart Cresselia's association with the crescent moon, Darkrai appears to represent the .
====Name origin====
Darkrai may be a combination of dark and 暗い kurai (dark).
==In other languages==
==Related articles==
* Lunar duo
* Darkrai (M10)
* Darkrai (Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky)
* Darkrai (Pokkén)
* Darkrai (UNITE)
* Mythical Pokémon
==References==
==External links==
* Darkrai on Pokémon.com
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Category:Mythical Pokémon
Category:Super Smash Bros. trophies
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