Our old friend Ash Ketchum has probably seen and battled more Pokémon than most. He has the right to think of himself as a bit of a Pokémon expert, but not even he had come across Darkrai before! Do you think he’s ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in the tenth Pokémon movie?

The gang were all on their way to another Pokémon Contest, with Ash leading the way as usual, when they stumble upon a place called Alamos Town. Roaming the streets, they meet a young girl named Alice who kindly gives them a tour of the landmarks of the town – the wonderful gardens filled with water features and lush greenery and the Space-Time Tower. While on their tour they discover that part of the gardens has been destroyed by someone – or something!

Suddenly, a man called Baron Alberto appears. He’s an influential man of the town and he’s adamant that this devastation is down to the mysterious Legendary Pokémon Darkrai. Just as he’s making these accusations, Darkrai himself appears before them all as if to confront them about Baron’s theory! None of the gang had ever come across Darkrai before – just who is he and what does he want? There are so many questions that need to be answered about
this Pokémon!

Before anyone can find out we see Dialga and Palkia fighting a vicious battle in space. The ferocious Pokémon are so powerful that they tear a hole in Space-Time and Alamos Town can clearly be seen through it. A deep, dank fog slowly descends on the town, trapping all the townfolk so that they are mysteriously unable to leave!

Alice’s childhood friend, a boffin called Tonio, soon realises that Alamos Town is in the grips of some kind of Space-TIme phenomenon, and analysing the data he discovers that the destruction of the gardens was down to Palkia arriving in town after suffering terrible injuries in his fight with Dialga. As this giant among Pokémon takes refuge, it’s not long before Darkrai senses its presence and goes in for the attack, causing yet more devastation to the poor town and sending the people
running for cover. Then, to make matters worse, Dialga appears from the other dimension, looking for his foe to continue the fight. When the two god-like Pokémon meet face to face with Darkrai, the battle between them isn’t pretty!

Shockwaves rattle out around the town as the giant Pokémon savage each other. Before too long, the town is nearing complete collapse and a prediction written in the diary of Tonio’s great-grandfather and the architect of the Space-Time Tower, Godey, could be coming true! It reads, “When space and time come together, a great wrath will engulf the world. An eternal never-ending battle of gods… a hope is left: Oración…”

Can Ash and his mates save Alamos Town from the wrath of these monstrous Pokémon? Can they trust Darkrai, or is he an enemy? Grab a DVD to find out!

10th Movie Facts!
• The setting of Alamos Town in The Rise Of Darkrai is based on Barcelona in Spain. The movie’s creators visited the city many times in the making of the anime. The Space-Time tower in the movie and the Oración are actually modelled on the Sagrada Família and the Park Güell in Barcelona, created by architect Antoni Gaudí. The names Tonio and Godey in the movie are a homage to this famous architect and his work.
•The Rise Of Darkrai, called Dialga Vs Palkia Vs Darkrai in Japan, was a big success in cinemas over there. It topped the box office charts when released and was seen by 1,074,000 people in the first three days!
•The movie was more successful than the previous one, Pokémon Ranger And The Temple Of The Sea.
•The English version of the movie was shown exclusively on Cartoon Network in the States on 1 February 2008 andcame out on DVD in the UK on 29 September 2008, courtesy of Network. Grab a copy down the shops as soon as you can! It’s only £12.99 and comes with an exclusive limited edition Pokémon Trading Card Game card – cool!

Pokémon making their debut in this movie…
One of the most exciting things about a new Pokémon movie is that they often contain the debuts for many Pokémon on the big screen. The Rise Of Darkrai is no exception. See if you can spot all of the following Pokémon when watching the movie…

•Darkrai
•Infernape
•Empoleon
•Torterra
•Lickilicky
•Chingling
•Finneon
•Lumineon
•Gallade
•Drifblim
•Tangrowth
•Yanmega
•Luxio
•Luxray
•Gible
•Bronzor
•Bibarel
•Honchkrow
•Purugly
•Eastern Shellos